If Montreal is any indication–and according to The Weather Network, it is–Christmas weather in many, many, many places across Canada could wind up being pretty darn dreary on Tuesday.
Very few places will actually see any fresh snow on Christmas Day and right now the ground, at least in Montreal, looks like it does in late March, never a particularly enticing picture.
Montreal at the end of March…looking pretty much like it does on this Christmas Eve. (Charles Contant/CBC)
It’s the crazy conditions, see.
First we had a lot of snow earlier this month.
That was followed by warm temperatures.
All of a sudden, white snow morphed into ugly muck
People clear snow from around their cars following a major snowstorm in Montreal last January. No similar activity is expected in the immediate future, though every Canadian knows their day will come–just not this Christmas. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
Then this past weekend, we got some gloomy grey skies and a smattering of precipitation. (To call it a dusting is to award way more credit than deserved.)
Bottom line: it’s ugly and cold in Montreal right now.
There is a bit of solace, but only if you are one who subscribes to the credo that misery loves company.
The Weather Network’s chief meteorologist, Chris Scott, says a lot of Canadians are in the same boat.
Horses graze in snow-covered pastures near Cremona, Alta. in October. There’s not a whole lot of snow left on the prairie ground. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
“For Christmas Eve specifically, the weather is really quiet across the country–unusually quiet,” Scott told The Canadian Press.
“Typically this time of year we’re talking about somebody getting clobbered with a storm.”
Scott says Canada’s three major metropolitan areas–Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver–will get zero to very little snow, but there’s enough snow still on the ground across the prairies to make it a white Christmas there.
As for the Maritimes: “Basically, we’ve lost most of the snow we’ve had,” says Scott.
A person walks in a snow covered park in Kingston, Ont. on Nov 16. We dedicate the photo to the romantics among us wishing that–somehow–this is how Kingston might look today. It doesn’t. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg
“It’s basically gone now. There’s patches, but it’s pretty much gone.”
“There’s snow on the ground with cold conditions,” says Scott, who adds that there will be light snow across the territories, who appear ready to hold up their end of the traditional bargain.
The Weather Network prediction for the Northwest Territories: -22 C on Christmas Eve and -24 C on Christmas Day.
But it will feel like -32 C there.
Ditto for Nunavut.
Across Yukon, it will be about -14 C on Monday and Tuesday but feel closer to -20 C.
Ah, the REAL Canada at last.
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