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Will Kelowna get a white Christmas?

There’s only one month until Christmas, and if recent weather is any indication there’s a chance it won’t be a white one.
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There's a good chance Kelowna will get a snowy Christmas

There’s only one month until Christmas, and if recent weather is any indication there’s a chance it won’t be a white one.

“This year we’re in a La Nina weather pattern, which can generally be colder than normal,” said Ross MacDonald, an Environment Canada meteorologist.

“But it’s been weak, so it won’t have a huge influence on the weather and that means we’re headed for a normal winter.”

With that in mind, MacDonald looked at data from previous Christmases and found that Kelowna has a snowy winter six out of every 10 years.

So, there’s a slightly above average chance for snow this year.

For the record, however, the weather is currently far from average.

“We have had a warm start to the month and we’re in a warmer than normal period now,” said MacDonald of November’s nearly balmy temperatures.

Usually Kelowna’s daytime highs hover in the area of 2 C to 3 C.

Through the last few weeks, temperatures have risen to double digits which is why we’ve had no snow to date.

That may mean the average 14 cm of snow that usually falls in Kelowna in November will never be seen.

“At this point we are on track for above normal monthly temperatures which has translated to the effect of not a lot of opportunity for snow to be made,” said MacDonald.

“I like to think that November is a time of change and it may just be taking a little longer for winter to set in.”

There’s a weather system moving in that looks like it may cool things down to ideal snowy temperatures and in the hills above the city and highways through mountains, the white stuff is really falling hard.

“We may pick up a couple centimetres this weekend,” said MacDonald.

“Usually in November we see roughly five days of snowfall. With one week in the month to go, it looks like we may see a couple days.”