Hopes for a white Christmas are fading across Canada

Open in full screen mode

Mild temperatures and rain should deliver a green or gray Christmas for most Canadians.

Radio-Canada

Speech synthesis, based on artificial intelligence, makes it possible to generate spoken text from written text.

Temperatures higher than average weather and rain dampen hopes for a white Christmas almost everywhere in Canada, from British Columbia to the Maritimes.

Au Quebec, the rain which began to fall Sunday evening, especially along the St. Lawrence valley, is expected to continue until Tuesday morning.

Rain records in 24 hours for a winter day could even be broken in the regions of Montreal, where 40 to 60 mm are forecast, and Quebec , where 50 to 70 mm is expected.

This precipitation is expected to be followed by mild temperatures which, in most areas, will not allow formation of a carpet of snow by next week.

However, in some areas such as Charlevoix and the Hautes-Laurentides, enough snow could remain on the ground for residents to have a white Christmas.

LoadingOttawa must announce to manufacturers on Tuesday the sales thresholds for electric vehicles

Ottawa must announce to manufacturers on Tuesday the sales thresholds for electric vehicles

ELSEWHERE ON INFO: Ottawa must announce to manufacturers on Tuesday the sales thresholds for electric vehicles

According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, a Christmas is considered white if the ground is covered with 'at least 2 cm of snow on December 25 at 7 a.m.

The El Niño climate phenomenon is increasing warming in Canada this winter.

El Niño officially began last June, earlier than usual. It manifests itself in warmer than normal surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, which has consequences across the planet.

The appearance of El Niño has consequences for the probability that 2023 will be the hottest year on record, if we take into account global warming, warned Marshall Shepherd, professor of meteorology at the University of Georgia.

This Monday, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia could experience temperatures 25 degrees higher to the seasonal average. For the second consecutive week, rain and strong winds are also expected to hit the Maritime provinces in the coming days.

Open in full screen mode

Strong winds are expected sweep the Maritimes again, a week after a storm that caused outages in more than 70,000 homes in the Maritimes.

Last week, outages affected more than 70,000 homes in the Maritimes following a storm.

In Thunder Bay, in northwestern Ontario, a brown and wet Christmas is also expected. On December 15, the thermometer read as high as 6 degrees Celsius, 12 degrees higher than the usual average for that day, according to Environment Canada data.

These above-average temperatures have been observed since the beginning of December. The average for the entire month of December is usually -11 to -12 degrees Celsius.

Peter Kimbell, meteorologist at Environment Canada, estimates that& #x27;There is at best a 50% chance that Thunder Bay residents will experience a white Christmas.

El Niño also brought warmer and drier than average temperatures to the Prairies, to the point where, by late November, residents were wondering if they had to put away their snow pants.

A situation that worries Terri Lang, meteorologist for Environment Canada. Throughout the summer, much of Western Canada was on fire. We had a dry fall, so having a dry winter could be very, very problematic, she warns, while noting that freezing temperatures and snowstorms are still possible.

Environment Canada data shows drought levels across the Prairies are higher than usual. In some areas of southern Alberta, they reach particularly high levels.

Statistically, Saskatchewan residents rarely ask themselves whether they will have a white Christmas, notes David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada.

Saskatoon experienced five Green Christmases between 1988 and 2021, and none between 1955 and 1987. Regina, for its part, experienced six between 1988 and 2021, compared to three during the period 1955-1987. This year's Christmas may be added to this list.

British Columbia, for its part, is less accustomed to White Christmases. According to data compiled by Environment Canada over a period of 67 years (New window) (external source), the probability of a white Christmas in Vancouver is 9%, a figure that rises to 12% for Victoria and 64 % for Kelowna.

With information from CBC News