For the first time in more than a decade, Russell Countians awoke Christmas morning to a "white Christmas" as more than three inches fell Christmas Eve night, according to several local measurements.

White Christmases have been scarce in Kentucky the past several decades but came in full force this year as the area received even more snow for the holiday than originally forecast.

State highway crews spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day plowing and salting roadways as families traveled to their holiday destinations locally.

The snow began falling around 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve and continued through Sunday with an additional inch or two of accumulation on top of the Christmas snow.

By Christmas morning, the National Weather Service reported that Bowling Green, the closest reported destination to Russell County, had four inches on the ground.

According to the National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center (NOHRSC), 50.2 percent of the contiguous United States had snow cover on Christmas morning.

The National Weather Service is forecasting an area melt for the snow as temperatures will increase as the week ends and the new year approaches. Rain showers are likely Friday and Saturday, and temperatures are expected to reach the upper 50s on New Year's Eve.

But, many will remember Christmas 2010 for the famed “white stuff.”