Well, ’tis the season to talk about holiday weather across the Prairies. With the holiday season now upon us, our weather thoughts tend to turn toward wishing for the perfect Christmas weather. The question is, just what is perfect Christmas weather? For those of you who have followed my articles it’s probably no secret that my perfect Christmas weather is to have a nice snowstorm. I know a big storm at this time of the year would cause all sorts of problems and hardships, but deep down inside I guess I just wish I could be stuck at home for a few days. No pressure to go anywhere because you can’t, plenty of food available, family around you and new presents under the tree. A perfect time to be forced to sit back and just relax — at least until you have to dig yourself out! But that’s me; other people have much different expectations for their perfect Christmas weather.
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According to Environment Canada, perfect Christmas weather means there is already snow on the ground and at some point during Christmas Day, there is measurable snowfall. So, what are the chances of this happening somewhere across the Prairies? Table 1 shows the probability of having snow on the ground for Christmas, along with having snowfall during the day. Interestingly, it breaks the data down into two 18-year periods (1964-82 and 1991-2009) to try and show how our winters seem to be coming warmer with less snow.
Given the data, it seems if you want a white Christmas, Winnipeg is your best bet. If you want Environment Canada’s version of a perfect Christmas, Regina is where you should be.
If your version of a perfect Christmas is to have record-breaking warm or heck, even cold, temperatures, Table 2 is a list of the warmest, coldest, and snowiest Christmas periods on record for two major centres in each of the three Prairie provinces. These records are based on the full set of data each of these cities has, which means they go back to the late 1800s. While some might argue these old records aren’t valid, I personally think they are and they should be included.
If you are looking for a place to go in the Prairies to experience a really warm Christmas, Calgary would be the place for you. While the other centres have seen some nice warm Christmases in the past, not one of them comes close to Calgary’s recorded highs. If you want a chance at seeing some really cold weather during this period, then you could pick pretty much any place, as all have seen Christmases colder than -35 C, although Winnipeg comes out the winner here with a bone-chilling -47.8 C on Christmas Eve in 1879!
Interestingly, when you examine the precipitation records for these three days you’ll notice the Christmas period has been a relatively dry, storm-free period, but there are a couple of exceptions. Winnipeg did see a heavy dump of 30.5 cm of snow on Boxing Day back in 1916, but the record for biggest Christmas snowstorms has to go to Edmonton. Back in 1938, Edmonton recorded over 25 cm of snow on Christmas Eve, then a further 18 cm of snow on Christmas day, for a total of 43 cm of snow!
Whatever weather you do end up with I hope it is what you wanted; if not, then remember the season and try to make the best of it!
