Shovels out: This is when Calgary usually gets its first snow of the year

Calgary has lucked out with a pretty stunning September and October this year, and it sure has been nice with no fear of an early dump of snow coming.

With all the warmth lately, it got us thinking: when does the season’s first significant snowfall tend to occur in Calgary?

Well, we reached out to the experts at Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), who combed through the past 10 years of data, and some of the facts may surprise you.

You might even remember some of the years when YYC got a wickedly early dump of snow or the years when it arrived blissfully later than usual.

mikecphoto/Shutterstock

When has the first snow landed in Calgary over the past 10 years?

Let’s take a look at when the first significant snow event was recorded in Calgary over the past 10 years, according to data provided by ECCC.

2015: Oct. 3, when 3 centimetres fell
2016: Oct. 7, when 4 centimetres fell
2017: Nov. 1, when 2.2 centimetres fell
2018: Oct. 1, when 5.3 centimetres fell
2019: Sept. 28, when 4.5 centimetres fell
2020: Oct. 14, when 5.5 centimetres fell
2021: Oct. 29, when 3.6 centimetres fell
2022: Oct. 22, when 21 centimetres fell
2023: Oct. 23, when 9.2 centimetres fell
2024: Oct. 21, when 0.6 centimetres fell

Oh, and the latest time of measurable snow to ever fall in Calgary? That happened in 1952 when the white stuff didn’t show up until Nov. 19.

There you have it. As of writing, Calgary has beaten out just one of the previous 10 years when it comes to the first significant snowfall event.

Fingers crossed we don’t see a massive dump of snow like we did a few years back, and maybe we can hope the warmth will last into November like it did in 2017. Wouldn’t that be nice?

If you were curious about how our friends in Edmonton compare, check out that data.