I just had a chat with my colleague and Tromsø native. In December snow around the city has been sparse for the last 10 years or so. To get reliable amounts you need to go at least 25km inland. In Jan - Mar there is usually some snow in the city and often lots, so much in fact that they would be happy for you to take some away with you :)

ps snow is fun until you have to shovel 30cm off your driveway on a Monday morning, then you yearn for summer :p

Chris, this is a perfect example of why it's so hard for me to get a clear and accurate picture. Your friend claims that snow has been sparse in December in Tromso for the past 10 years, and yet when I asked someone at the Tromso visitor center (who moved there and has lived there for the past 10 years), he claims that it has snowed just before or on Christmas Day every year for the past 10 years and that the average depth of snow on the ground at Christmas has been about 12". So it's really hard to get a clear picture since everyone seems to have a different idea of what winter is like there.

I'm one of those crazy people who will gladly pay the price of shoveling 30cm of snow off the driveway if that's what it takes to get 30 cm of snow for Christmas. :)

I don't think you will get a clear and accurate picture but...

12" of snow isn't considered a lot in Norway. We have about 4" in Oslo at the moment, that's just enough to make the scenery white. London would be at a standstill with that amout, so it's all relative.

I you want to visit Norway and have snow over Christmas you will be taking a chance staying in Tromsø city. Stay a few miles inland and you're almost guaranteed tons of the stuff. Having said that, the forecast is for 7cm on the 23rd, 6cm on the 24th and 5cm on the 25th. But then again the temperature is hovering around zero so the precipitation could fall as rain/sleet.