This day in history: It was a white Christmas and, for some, a wet Christmas (but not the way you think)

From 1974: A Christmas Eve snowfall made for a white Christmas in Spokane.

Accumulation was only about an inch, but that was enough to begin the morning on “a bright, white note,” The Spokesman-Review wrote.

Christmas Eve wasn’t so cheery for firefighters, who spent the evening battling a blaze at the Ye Olde Bottle Shoppe, 31 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. The fire spread to St. Vincent House next door. Flames were shooting 30 feet into the air when they arrived.

One firefighter suffered minor injuries.

The shop was “extensively charred.” What wasn’t charred was soaking wet, with 6 inches of water “sloshing around on the floor.”

From 1924: The temperature plummeted to minus-5 degrees, making it the coldest Christmas in Spokane to that date.

The previous record low was 3 degrees.

The head of Spokane’s weather bureau said “peculiar conditions” were in place over the region.

It was the ninth consecutive day of subzero or near-zero weather in Spokane.

Deer Park was even colder, tying a Christmas record at minus-20.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1066: William the Conqueror is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey, completing the Norman conquest of England.

1776: George Washington crosses the Delaware River into New Jersey, surprises and defeats 1,400 Hessians during the American Revolutionary War.