A White Christmas Appears Very Likely for Most of Alberta With Potential Snowstorm Monday Into Tuesday
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This is a PRELIMINARY outlook - we will be updating it throughout the week as we get closer to Christmas.
Unsurprisingly, a White Christmas is basically guaranteed for the Rockies into the Northern parts of Alberta. There is a significant snowpack in this area and it will likely only continue to grow throughout the week with more snowfall accumulation. For the lower elevations of Alberta into Calgary and Edmonton, it looks like a White Christmas will probably happen but it’s not guaranteed. This is due to a limited snowpack going into the weekend and temperatures several degrees above the freezing mark on both Saturday and Sunday. Calgary and Edmonton will likely have very little snow on the ground by the end of the weekend.
For those who are hoping for a White Christmas, we have good news that a system is expected to deliver a blast of accumulating snowfall to Alberta including Calgary and Edmonton between Monday and Tuesday. Between 10-20cm is possible from this storm with higher amounts along the Rockies. Calgary will likely see lower snow totals between 5-10cm though that may change. We’ll have a more detailed forecast as the event draws closer. With this storm and temperatures expected to stay below the freezing mark from Tuesday through to Christmas Day, a White Christmas is very likely.
Now we have decided to give a small zone in Extreme Southern Alberta an equal chance of a White Christmas. This includes Lethbridge and Cardston mostly because they may not see much snow from the storm early in the week and above freezing temperature until Tuesday. We will have to see how this develops in the coming days and once we get to Monday or Tuesday it should become clear if they’ll see a White Christmas or not.
On behalf of the entire Instant Weather team, we’d like to wish everyone a happy and joyful holiday season! We’ll continue to be here keeping you informed on any impactful weather over the holiday season and into the New Year. Here’s hoping that 2021 is much better to everyone than the dumpster fire that 2020 has been! :)
