A White Christmas in Canada

If you are dreaming of a white Christmas this year, you may want to consider spending the day in Quebec City over Vancouver Island. Quebec City is well known for its white Christmases whereas a snowy December 25 is the exception rather than the rule in temperate Victoria.

Canada is a vast land with wildly varying winter weather, but Environment Canada has put together a great Web site to help find out where you can spend the perfect, white Christmas.

Environment Canada's senior climatologist, David Phillips, compiled 45 years of weather data for cities all across Canada in the hunt for a white Christmas. Climatologists define a white Christmas as at least 2 centimetres of snow on the ground on December 25. A "perfect" Christmas day would also include at least another one centimetre of accumulated snowfall.

Montreal set its own Christmas day snowfall record in 1966 when 32.8 centimetres of the white stuff came down. So would this be a good place to go for the perfect Christmas? Well, all and all it wouldn't be a bad choice, although several cities outdo Montreal. There are nearly ten places on the list that offer a statistical guarantee of Christmas day snow cover. And you don't necessarily need to make the long trek north to get in on the snowy Yuletide fun.

It is interesting to note that a trip to "the North Pole (represented by Alert) does offer a 100 per cent chance of a white Christmas (white Canada Day too) but is one of the least likely places in Canada to enjoy a perfect Christmas Day with 9 per cent," says Phillips. Poor Santa Claus! After all that work he can't go home to enjoy a perfect Christmas Day.

Winnipeg is a good choice for a wintry holiday – if you plan to be there this December 25, there is a 98 per cent chance that the ground will be covered with at least 2 centimetres of snow (but probably a lot more!). However, like other cities on the Prairies, there is a low probability of witnessing a Christmas day snow dusting in the city.

There is no guarantee of a "perfect" white Christmas in Canada. Windsor, Calgary, and Vancouver are the least likely places to witness one whereas Sault Ste. Marie is a pretty good bet.

Aside from the weather information you need to plan for Christmas, the Web site has a collection of the most interesting, bizarre, and extreme Christmas day weather stories from around Canada.

So, just where is the ideal place to be in Canada for a white Christmas? And how does your city or province rate? For that you'll have to find out yourself by visiting the White Christmas Web site. Happy hunting!