Dreaming of a white Christmas???
 

If you are planning a trip to Canada for Christmas, and wonder whether it will be white, here are the chances of seeing snow on the ground:

Vancouver 9%
Calgary 60%
Winnipeg 93%
Toronto 44%
Ottawa 80%
Montreal 80%
Quebec City 100%

I didn't make these number up folks, these were compiled by Environment Canada (the national weather etc. service). :-S

Downtown To never has a white Christmas

If downtown TO has never had a white Christmas, then I must have been hallucinating (or drunk :-)))!!) during the seven years that I have lived there (in the 1970's and beginning of the 1980's).

And you just never know what awaits you this year, the weather has been very unpredictable lately (global warming no doubt - also cause of brown Christmases on the prairies in the past few years).

Toronto has had white Christmases - but you sure cannot count on it. Some years - lovely fluffy new snow - other years - grey and more grey - yuck.
If one is in search of a white Christmas - Quebec City and Winnipeg are defintely the best bets. Personally I would choose Quebec City - like a picture post card of winter.

Don't you think that winters in general are milder in Toronto than they once were? When I moved to Toronto in 1976, I think we did get more snow and it was colder. Now it seems we rarely have snow at Christmas, at least in downtown Toronto. (I'm not complaining though!)

Winters all across Canada are milder than they once were. Even here in Edmonton, we have had several "brown" Christmases in the last decade (including one particular Christmas when it RAINED not snowed - it was very strange). And our growing season (last frost of spring to first frost of fall) has lengthened by about two weeks or so.
The climate has become very unpredictable, that's for sure.
However, it might be back to normal this year. It has been snowing over the past week in central Alberta, Hallowe'en was white, and the scenery looks very "picture postcard" right now!!

I think all the pollution melts the snow before it can fall in Toronto! I'm originally from Kingston, ON and while I can remember many white Xmas' as a kid, I don't think that city has had snow at Xmas for a while now. I mean a real nice white blanket of snow.
Went to Quebec City last year and it was beautiful, snowy and cold. Now that's REAL Xmas weather! :)

I think your numbers have forgotten the snowiest cities in Canada. I read an artical, and they were ranking the cities in order of most snowfall per year, three of the top then cities in Canada were in New Brunswick, and 2 of the top then were in Newfoundland. Basically you wanna see snow come to the east. NB get so much snow that we have one of the most organized snowmobile trails anywhere, and our tourism department has a whole thing around winter and white gold. Personally I could do without waking up to snow as I did this morning, but I guess we should make the most of it.

LissaJ - I didn't mean to leave the Maritime provinces out, so sorry!! (as a matter of fact, I not only left out your area of the country, but mine too :"> !!).

So - for anyone out there who loves snow and winter, and wants to plan a trip to the Great White North, here goes:

Probability of snow at Christmas -

St. John's 62%
Charlottetown 82%
Halifax 58%
Fredericton 80%

"Weather winners" in Canada -

Snowiest city = Gander, NL [443 cm]
Snowiest autumn = Val-d'Or, QC [62 cm]
Snowiest spring = Gander NL [136 cm]
Most snow days = Val-d'Or, QC [104 days]
Most heavy (+10 cm) snowfall days = Campbellton, NB [13 days]
Most HUGE (+25 cm) snowfall days = Moncton, NB [2 days]
Longest snowcover season = Yellowknife, NT [191 days]
Greatest average snow depth = Quebec City QC [58 cm]

For those not familiar with the metric system, one cm = slightly less than 1/2 inch (6 inches = 15 cm).

More stats: Canada's five snowiest cities are -

Gander with 443 cm (annual average)
Corner Brook with 422 cm
Sept-Iles with 412 cm
Campbellton with 392 cm
Baie Comeau with 362 cm
Ottawa is the snowiest national capital in the world but only the 34th snowiest city in Canada.

(Please note that all these stats were complied by Environment Canada, and you can find this information and more on their website).

Thank you for you new stats...Not that I am pround of all of our snow, but we deffinatly have it.

OK, from Winnipeg, why do we get 93% chance of snow on the ground?

Easy! Because the snow comes in Nov. and it stays COLD for most of the snow to stay until late Feb! We have waaaaaaaay less snow than Montreal or Kenora!

I grew up in northern Sask., as cold.

But do you in TO have sparkling light snowflakes that don't melt, pretty much guaranteed, every Christmas Eve? Magic!

But for those of use who are acclimatized (that is, walk to work except in summer when we bike, and except when the wind chill is on our face in winter) walking on packed snow is a significantly better surface than sidewalks or asphalt. I can easily walk to work at minus 40 (45 minutes) if there is no wind (wind is rare below -20). I only wear a parka at -20 because once you have walked two blocks, you heat up. The worst thing is standing waiting for a car to warm up, or for a bus!

I find Toronto and Montreal really really cold in the winter. You can't dress for humid cold. But I loooove to visit both cities. I don't need to weat ugly warm boots, just waterproof shoes!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas :-o. . . well, unless we have a tropical heatwave in the few weeks, it looks like the odds of having a white Christmas in Edmonton have just jumped to 100% !!

Wow - what a lot of snow in such a short time (a few hours) - it looks almost knee deep in places.
The cross-country skiing should be really wonderful this weekend.
The mountain parks got even more snow then we did (so I hear) & the downhill ski resorts must be thrilled.

So come on up everybody, and visit our winter wonderland!!

As for me, I'm enjoying it even though I had to trudge through it to get home this evening. And now - here I sit with my steaming hot mug of cocoa plus :S-, Bing is crooning in the background, and I don't have to dream about white Christmas anymore!!!

Yesturday in Fredericton was 14C today it is supposed to be like 10C...Wierd weather over on my side...Last week with wind chill and stuff it was -10C...

We took our two "kids" (18 and 21) to Montreal & Quebec city for a White Christmas in 1999. We got exactly what we bargained for...along with temps of 17-24 below zero! We had a fantastic time. 3 nights in a suite in Montreal, 3 nights in a suite at Lowes in QC (with a phenominal view of Old QC, the Frontenac, the St Lawrence) We sent the kids off to ski/snow board at Mt St Annes on a tour arranged by the hotel one day. We drove to the Charlevoix region and spent a night in a tiny town before taking a half day dogsled trip, which was totally amazing. One of the best Christmases EVER.

It's snowing right now in Bright's Grove.

Lolly - is Bright's Cove in Nova Scotia??

100% chance of a white Christmas in Quebec City didn't seem very likley, so a googled for another source. This site http://www.theweathernetwork.com/twn...ss_01Dec22.htm says 79%

Keith

Bright's Grove is in Ontario. It's where Mike Weir grew up!

Keith - I don't trust the statistics from the Weather Channel because they often get the current conditions for my city (Edmonton) wrong.
Environment Canada on the other hand is right on and besides has been collecting weather statistics and analyzing it for more than a century.

By the way "wow" - who is Mike Weir????? (& couldn't find Bright's Cove on my maps of Ontario - where is it??)

To Borealis from Wow!: Must be tough w/ a name like Borealis living in a bubble! I think you must be joking. You live in Canada. You glance @ the Sports page once in a while, don't you? And, the front page? Mike Weir is a golfer who grew up near Sarnia, Ontario (It's on your map!). Bright's Grove is near Sarnia. Mike Weir won The Masters this year!
Now...go back to sleep! Borealis, you're really good @ stats! Go to www.pga.com & check out the stats on Mike Weir!

Actually wow, I'm not much of a sports fan, and if Mike Wier won the Master's this year that's very nice for him but totally irrelevant to me. I guess that I've been paying more attention to what is going on in Iraq and Turkey etc. than to trivial sports like golf :-D !!

I know where Sarnia is, thank you - don't need to locate it on a map. Bright's Cove must be very small since it doesn't make it to the Rand & McNally road atlas.

As for Borealis, the name derives from Boreas, the Greek god of the north wind, I think the Greeks got it wrong because - being a woman - I think the north wind should have been a goddess ;;) !! - and the name refers to, among other things, the fact that I live in the largest northernmost city (nearly one million people) in Canada.

Yes I am good at stats & math - it is essential to my job because I make my living in a scientific field.

Now go away and play nice :">

Borealis - The Weather Channel and Env. Canada take their current conditions from the same source.

Now, now people, this is a nice post,so need to fight.

Now I think Borealis is a neat name, thanks for explaining.

It's Bright's Grove, not Cove!
Interesting derivative of your name, Borealis.

OK - it Bright's GROVE. After all this, I'll have to visit the place someday, probably after I've done the Lake Superior "circle tour".

Erick - Environment Canada has meteorologists on staff who perform direct measurements of atmospheric and weather related conditions. In fact, I happen to know a couple of them.
I do not know where the Weather Channel gets its information, but I do know that they get it wrong often enough (for Edmonton current conditions) that I don't trust them.

Borealis - "Current conditions" measurements are done at the airport and at every hour. If the Weather Channel is wrong on the current conditions, it's because you're too far from the airport or conditions changed. Environment Canada don't take these measurments themselves anymore. It's done by a private contractor or the Flight Service Station at the airport. I've been doing this for 6 years in 5 different towns. The Weather Channel don't have their own weather stations and use the exact same data as Env. Canada. Forecasts are another matter as both as their own staff for that.

Erick - Edmonton has more than one airport, one in town and one south of the city. There also used to be a military airport north of the city, but I don't recall if there is a weather station there any more.
The forecasts are notoriously incorrect for Edmonton, especially for more than 24 hours ahead. Twenty years ago I lived in Toronto and found that the weather forecasts were much more accurate even with the technology of that day than they are today in the Edmonton area. I assume that this is a function of the centralization of services = out West we get less.
And I will check with my meteorologist friends about who takes the actual measurements.

Snow report: for the last couple of days Toronto has had beautiful, cold, clear sunny weather with snow on the ground! Much preferred over dark, gray and rainy. Hope it keeps up!

Well, today - two days before Christmas, the forecast is for fairly seasonal temps, and we do have snow on the ground in Edmonton (although it is weeks old), so I guess our Christmas will be white.

However, my husband has planned to wash our car today, and that's always a signal for a change to "messy" weather :-) !!!!

Borealis,
That should do it! Every time we wash our car ( this past week was a detailing) we get snow/rain. Better run out to the store for milk before it hits :)
Happy Holidays to you & yours ((L))

In Montreal, we are not dreaming of a white xmas, we are experiencing it; tons of snow everywhere; they are calling for rain today and tomorrow, should be interesting if it all freezes....

Personally, I prefer snow after xmas only.

In Halifax we'll be having a balmy Christmas. It's 12 degrees now, and the sun is shining. Weird weather.

Pouring bloody rain in Toronto, at 8 degrees. Forecast is calling for snow on Christmas Day, however. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I love snow at Christmas!

Well, wet or snowy, I do Wish you ALL a Merry Happy Holiday!

Borealis, we used to listen to Bing sing those Christmas Carols every year, my son wrote from Japan and said he heard Bing in a dept store and wished he were home ~weep weep~

Personally, I would love to be snuggled in with the Yankee and Pup in some nice Montreal Hotel with a fireplace watching it snow.

But I guess one last Christmas in NY with the rain will be fine too~

Peace & Joy!