White Christmas

Some Memorable "Christmases Past"

Atlantic Canada

1998

On Christmas Eve, a storm centre brushed the Atlantic shoreline leaving 10 cm of light fluffy snow in Halifax. With virtually no wind, the snow  settled softly on the trees, and as night fell,  Christmas lights turned the city into a perfect holiday postcard.  The sun shone all day on the 25th, and, with temperatures climbing to a comfortable -2.5 ° C, it was hard to imagine more perfect  Christmas weather anywhere.

1991

A Christmas Day storm raced across Newfoundland bringing with it snow, rain, freezing rain and strong winds.  Corner Brook recorded nearly 40 cm of snow.  Heavy rain and freezing rain to the east caused flooding that forced some residents living in the Placentia Bay area to evacuate their homes.

1983

Winds gusting to 118 km/h downed power lines in St. John's, Newfoundland, leaving many residents without electricity on Christmas Day.  About 200 crewmen working on three offshore oil drilling rigs in the Grand Banks were brought home Christmas Eve after the company decided the weather would be too stormy to drill.  Waves reached 12 metres and the wind gusted to 135 km/h.

1980

It was a record-breaking cold Christmas for residents of New Brunswick.  At Saint John, it was the coldest Christmas Day on record at -28.2 ° C with the previous record low of -26.7 ° C hitting the area in 1872.  Bone-chilling temperatures also affected other parts of the province with Woodstock residents suffering the worst cold at -31° C on Boxing Day.  Elsewhere it was -28° C in Fredericton, -27° C in Moncton, -26° C in Charlo and -28° C in Chatham.

1970

At Turtle Creek,  New Brunswick, a "Paul Bunyon" snowfall began on December 24.  Five days later, the snow fall accumulation was 125 cm.

1923

Christmas weather was mild in the east.  On Cape Breton Island, NS, buttercups and daisies were in bloom in the fields and the Highland golfers were still using their links. Flocks of wild geese fed in Lingan Bay. Old timers and local native peoples foretold of continuous open weather and no hard frost until after the middle of January.

1872

In Halifax, Christmas was celebrated quietly as intense cold prevented many residents from venturing outside. Locals described the sleighing superb, however, several accidents occurred from horses running away, smashing sleighs, and injuring both man and beast, but no fatal cases were reported.  A heavy snow-storm blocked most of the highways in the western part of Nova Scotia.  The railway to Annapolis was impassable and Pictou harbour froze.

Central Canada (Ontario & Quebec)

1994

With temperatures peaking around 8°C, Sault Ste Marie prepared to celebrate Christmas in a way seldom seen in northern Ontario.  There was none of the usual tobogganing, skating and skiing—instead, residents were wearing bathing suits, sitting in lawn chairs, washing cars -- and recording it all on camcorders!

1979

Following five days with rain in the Toronto area, Santa had to slosh through nearly 100 mm of water to deliver Christmas goodies.  The downpour washed away the last of the snow giving the city its first green Christmas in eight years.  Adults were thankful just thinking how much snow 100 mm of rain would have produced. (They could have been digging out from under almost 100 cm of it - nearly a full year's worth.) As it was, the rain caused flooding problems throughout Metro Toronto. Creeks and rivers spilled over their banks, storm sewers overflowed and basements flooded.

1973

Thousands of Christmas holidayers were stranded in southern Ontario when fog blanketed the region for days.

1986

A severe ice storm struck the Ottawa Valley and southwestern Quebec back on Christmas Eve.  Fallen trees snapped hydro wires and damaged property. One home in four was without power on Christmas Day and many residents had to make alternative plans for Christmas dinner.  Nearly 14 hours of freezing rain deposited about 30 mm of precipitation.

1980

A severely cold Christmas Day in Ontario and Quebec -- temperatures were in the - 25 ° C to - 40 ° C range with strong winds.  Two years later, it was the warmest Christmas Day ever across southern districts of central Canada.  Toronto's 17.2 ° C was the warmest in 142 years of recordkeeping.

1923

Christmas afternoon in Lake Ontario's Bay of Quinte was likened to a day in spring.  Residents celebrated the holiday by sailing around the Bay.  Old timers could only remember this happening once before in 1875 when a local captain had his craft in the water at Yuletide. 

1872

Torontonians got a white Christmas, but not the one they were dreaming of.  On the 25th and 26th, the city received 58.4 cm of snow, its greatest two-day snowfall on record.  Gale-force winds caused massive drifts and combined with -16 ° C to -18 ° C temperatures to produce severe wind chill.  The Great Western Train from Hamilton was about 3 1/2 hours late.

1646

In Quebec City, the weather was so mild on December 25, that it was not necessary to heat the church for midnight mass.

The Prairies

1997

At noon on December 25th, Edmonton's temperature was 6.8°C, almost as mild as Phoenix, Arizona. There was no snow on the ground in the Alberta capital - it was the first "brown" Christmas in 100 years. At least a dozen golfers played at Victoria golf course. Kids tried out new bikes, joggers ran in their shirtsleeves, and residents strolled in windbreakers and sunglasses.

1987

December was a record mild month on the Prairies with some locations averaging ten degrees above normal.  At least 90 daily maximum temperature records were set, including a reading of 9.3° C at Edmonton which established the mildest Christmas Day since observations began in 1880.

1968

Boxing Day marked the beginning of the snowiest and coldest spell in Victoria in 20 years.  Almost 28 cm of snow fell on the last days of December, and, over a five week period, 120 cm of snow fell (the norm is 20 cm).  The temperature bottomed at -15.6 ° C on the 29th, an all-time low, and the maximum temperature stayed below freezing for 11 consecutive days.

1939

Winnipeg experienced its second "green" Christmas in history. The thermometer was a relatively balmy  -5°C, tempting golfers and bowlers to the greens, and tennis players to the courts. Apart from kids with new toboggans and taxi drivers, most people seemed to enjoy the unseasonable warmth.

1877

Christmas in Winnipeg was mild, rainy, and snowless—"muddy" was the best description. A weather observer/druggist included in his weather observations that "two frogs were said to have been seen in the swamps adjoining the city." Prior to Christmas Day there were seven consecutive  days  with  rain,  totalling  more  than  23  mm.

British Columbia

1972

A Christmas day rainstorm at Vancouver set an all-time 24-hour rainfall record: more than 50 weather stations in the Vancouver district recorded in excess of 100 mm during the storm.

1979

On the 25th, the 15,000 tonne Lee Wang Zin capsized 30 kilometers northeast of Rose Point in the Queen Charlotte Islands in gale-force winds and high seas.  All crew men were lost.

1980

Boxing Day floods near Vancouver caused $13 million in damage along the Squamish River.  Residents were evacuated following a week of heavy rains and flooding.  Hope recorded 444 mm of precipitation in December (178 percent of normal).

The Far North

2000

At the Innu community community of Davis Inlet, NF, broken snow-clearing equipment, fog, blowing snow, and freezing rain closed the runway for 10 days around Christmas.  Not until the 28^th did the weather clear, finally allowing a plane to land with presents, medicines, and relatives home for the holidays.  According to the band chief, it was the worst Christmas they had ever had. A community feast was held on Christmas Day to help unify the Innu village.

1999

Hundreds of residents of Churchill, MB, had to seek refuge in a community centre on Christmans Day as a fierce storm knocked out power in northern Manitoba and northwestern Ontario. Winds peaking at 133 km/h cut most of the power in Churchill that afternoon. Rock-hard turkeys were abandoned in cold ovens.  The residents ate baloney sandwiches and slept on bed rolls. 

1989

An earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale was felt Christmas morning around 9:30 am. in the Ungava Peninsula of northern Quebec, Baffin Island and eastern areas of Nunavut.  No injuries or damage was reported.

The Green Lane^TM,
Environment Canada's World Wide Web Site.