Oh snow: Incoming heat to Calgary may bring a brown Christmas with it
If you were hoping to build a snowman on Christmas Day in Calgary, you won’t be able to scrounge up much snow, as a brown Christmas looks likely.
Daily Hive caught up with Justin Shelley, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), to determine whether Calgarians should expect to wake up to a brown Christmas next week.
Shelley stated that at this point, the probability of any significant precipitation for early next week looks pretty low, with variable snowpack at the Calgary International Airport having around seven to eight centimetres of snowpack.
“It isn’t a ton considering the temperatures anticipated over the weekend into early next week, looking to be in the five to six-degree range for several days, will eat into such little snowpack there is,” Shelley said.
“Unless we get another decent shot of snow in the next several days, [it’s] looking more like Calgary will be seeing a brown Christmas. It will likely come down to the wire, but if double-digit temperatures do occur, it’ll likely be slim to happen.”
Looking at the Calgary forecast from ECCC, the shot of more snow falling in the city is looking pretty bleak, with plenty of days, and even some nights, above zero.
Environment and Climate Change Canada
To be considered a white Christmas by ECCC, two centimetres of snow must be on the ground at 5 am on Christmas morning.
Since 1955, YYC has enjoyed a white Christmas 62% of the time, and since 1997, closer to two in three Christmases have been white.
According to ECCC, the average high YYC gets this time of year is -2°C and a minimum low of -14°C.
If you were curious about how our pals to the north in Edmonton are doing with the chances of a white Christmas, it’s definitely going to happen.
At approximately 3 pm yesterday, 26 centimetres of snow were on the ground at the Edmonton International Airport weather station.
Since 1997, Edmonton has also enjoyed a white Christmas around 87% of the time.