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Snow on Christmas Day in eastern Canada, experts say

If you’re still dreaming of a white Christmas this year, you may be in luck. Weather patterns currently show that the eastern portion of Canada will have snow on Christmas Day.

According to Brett Anderson, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather, the weather pattern at this point favour snow in the eastern Prairies, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada.

“It’s probably looking like we could see a snowier pattern in New Brunswick, in that area as you get closer to the coast,” Anderson said. “There will be opportunity for some storms in the Northeast U.S. heading up into the Maritimes…they may come far enough north to impact even southern Ontario and southern Quebec.”

Conversely, Western Canada will likely see a dry Christmas Day, with the weather pattern at this point not showing any significant snowfall.

“I don’t see any indication [of snow] at this point, most of the storms in the west are going to be up into Alaska,” Anderson said.

The Prairies are looking quite dry as well, with the possibility of a few Albert Clipper storms around Christmas Day but nothing particularly significant. These clippers are low-pressure, quick-moving storm systems that originate near Alberta and will only bring some lighter snow events.

This pattern is consistent with significant shift that meteorologists and weather forecasters identified for the month of December, where the eastern portion of the country gets significantly colder and stormier while the Western Canada is relatively dry and mild.

In terms of temperature, Anderson says the weather pattern is also pointing towards slightly colder than normal temperatures in the east, and warmer than normal temperatures in the west.

Normal temperature for Toronto on Christmas Day is around 0 C for the high and -8 C for the low temperature, and the current pattern shows roughly -2 C for a high and -10 C for the low on Christmas Day. Montreal will also see slightly lower than normal temperatures, with -5 C for the high and -14 C for the low.

In Vancouver, the normal high for Christmas Day is 6 C and the low is about 0 C. Anderson says the weather pattern at this point shows that temperatures on Christmas Day will likely be around 8 C for the high and 2 C for the low. Edmonton is looking at temperatures around -5 C for the high and -14 C for the low, compared to the normal of -7 C for the high and -17 C for the low.

Anderson also points out that as we get closer to the day, weather patterns may show that it’s going to be even warmer or colder in these areas, but if you’re in Eastern Canada it looks like Mother Nature might be gifting you with a white Christmas this year.