Simcoe Muskoka expected to see a white Christmas

Environment Canada's Dave Phillips explains what qualifies as a white Christmas and if we're in for one.

With the big day two days away, the question on many people’s minds is, will Simcoe County see a white Christmas?

According to climatologist with Environment Canada Dave Phillips, we certainly will.

But how do you actually define a white Christmas?

“If you go into your backyard, take a yardstick and you stick it in the ground in about five or six places, then you average it. If it’s two centimetres or more, it’s a white Christmas,” explained Phillips.

So things are looking pretty good for Simcoe Muskoka. Phillips said in the Barrie area, there’s 17 to 20 centimetres of snow sitting on the ground.

“If you get those saucers and toboggans, sleighs and snowboards for Christmas, you’ll be able to use those right away,” he said, adding that Torontonians will have to travel for that.

“This is nature’s gift to us.”

He said in Simcoe Muskoka there tends to be the most snow after Christmas, New Year’s and into mid-January or February, but this white Christmas will have staying power right through until the new year.