For Canadians in Edmonton and Thunder Bay, snow on the ground at Christmas is practically a sure thing. This year will be no exception, if weather forecasts are to be believed.
Vancouverites hoping to see the treetops glisten are usually out of luck. And this year they can expect a green Christmas as usual.
It turns out that most major Canadian cities can expect typical weather on Christmas Day -- with a couple major exceptions.
CTVNews.ca used historical data from Statistics Canada to determine the likelihood of having at least one centimetre of snow on the ground on Dec. 25, in 10 cities from coast to coast.
Here is a look at how often those cities had snow on the ground on Christmas Day, measured over a recent decade.
So far, Environment Canada forecasts suggest the pattern will hold in most major cities.
One exception is St. John’s, Nfld., which usually has snow on the ground for Santa, but is this year expected to have a green Christmas.
Another is Montreal, where dreams of a typically White Christmas will likely be drowned out by rain.
Ottawa is also looking iffy: it usually gets a White Christmas, but could get rain or snow this year.
That’s due to a storm from the southern U.S. that is expected track up across the Great Lakes on Christmas Eve, bringing rain to eastern Ontario and western Quebec.
Rob Kuhn, a severe weather meteorologist with Environment Canada, says that same storm could bring up to 15 centimetres to areas of northeastern Ontario, including Geraldton, Kapuskasing and possibly Timmins.
Rain or flurries are possible in Toronto, which experienced a White Christmas Day on six of the past 10 years.
But Toronto will get snow eventually.
“The latest long-range I’ve been reading up for (Ontario) suggests basically near-normal temperatures for the December, January, February period,” says Kuhn.
“So if this turns out to be correct, it certainly won’t be as cold as last winter, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we get some periods that turn out to be quite cold.”
