Will Winnipeg have a white Christmas?

Winnipeggers take advantage of warm temperatures With temperatures peaking above freezing, Winnipeggers took advantage of the unseasonable weather. Jon Hendricks explains.

If you’re anything like Michael Bublé or Bing Crosby before him, you’re dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones you used to know.

But as calendars flipped to December last week, Winnipeg didn’t exactly resemble a scene out of a Christmas movie.

It’s been weeks since any significant snow fell in the city.

Still, Friday could bring some more seasonal sights.

Environment and Climate Change Canada predicts periods of rain mixed with snow will begin Friday, amounting to two to four centimetres of the white stuff.

“We don't really see a whole lot of precipitation in the next week or so after that, so we'll have to wait and see closer to Christmas whether we'll actually get a white Christmas,” said warning preparedness meteorologist Natalie Hasell.

“A lot of it will actually depend on what follows in the next 36 to 48 to 72 hours.”

According to Hasell, to have a meteorological white Christmas, two centimetres of snow or more must be on the ground at seven a.m. on Christmas morning.

There’s also a perfect white Christmas – which means in addition to that two or more centimetres of snow, falling snow must also occur at some point during Christmas Day.

Not meeting that threshold can be called either a brown Christmas or a green Christmas, Hasell says.

The colour of our meteorological Christmas in Winnipeg will not only depend on tomorrow’s snowfall, but on temperatures going forward.

“It’ll really depend on what happens with this storm and whether we get another period of warmer temperatures that allows things to melt. I don't see that in the forecast right now,” she said.

Still, she cautions it’s a bit early to predict Winnipeg’s Christmas fate, so folks could still see treetops glisten and children listen to hear sleigh bells in the snow.

“It's pretty far still, forecast-wise, so we'll have to wait and see.”