With rain expected through Tuesday, Quebecers will have to say goodbye to what little snow we have on the ground and perhaps think about a green Christmas.
At least that's what the weather forecasts suggest, according to Julien Chartrand, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.
“The likelihood of a white Christmas is still low,” he said in an interview with the QMI agency, specifying that no significant snow event is in sight, although he is not yet ruling out this possibility.
In contrast to last year, there is little snow this year. In the south of the province there have therefore not been many snowflakes since the beginning of the meteorological winter and the low pressure system coming from the American East Coast will bring rain and milder temperatures that will help melt the snow by Tuesday.
However, some regions – such as the Hautes-Laurentides and Charlevoix – could have received enough snow to wake up to a beautiful white carpet on Christmas morning, the expert emphasized.
White Christmas vs. Green Christmas
But what is a white Christmas? In fact, we say it is a white Christmas when there is 2cm of snow on the ground on the morning of December 25th, explained Mr Chartrand. The latter also reported that they are more common in the Quebec region (97%) than in the Greater Montreal area (75%).
However, we note that these figures have been falling for 25 years, so the likelihood of experiencing a white Christmas is now thought to be 91% in the capital and 68% on the mainland.
The last Green Christmas was in Quebec in 2015, while in Montreal we celebrated Green Christmas in 2018, 2019 and 2020.