Edmontonians dreaming of a white Christmas will need to keep dreaming — the holiday weekend is expected to be more mucky brown than snowy white.

“I look ahead over the next week and I just see nothing but sunshine and some cool temperatures,” Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips said in an interview Tuesday with CBC Radio’s Edmonton AM.

“You’re probably going to hold what you’ve got but boy, you need a transfusion of snow in the city, or you’re going not going to have one,” he said. 

“You’re going to have what is rather rare, which is a brown or green Christmas.”

Christmas Day sunny and -11 C

The recent unseasonably warm and dry weather has left Edmonton with scant snow, lots of glare ice and even some visible blades of frostbitten grass.

While some regions of northern Alberta haven’t thawed as much as others, the city will likely look nothing like the holiday vision Bing Crosby sang about, said Phillips.

The forecast for the remainder of the week is snow-free and sunny. According to the latest forecast from Environment Canada, Christmas Eve will be clear and -8 C. Christmas Day will be sunny and -11 C.

“It depends on where you live. It’s location, location, location,” said Philips.

“In Edmonton, there’s about eight centimetres of snow on the ground. It’s pretty dirty. It’s probably not nice fresh snow, but in some parts of Edmonton, you’re at risk of not having a white Christmas.”

There has to be at least two centimetres of snow on the ground on Christmas morning for it to be considered a true white Christmas.

“People look to Canada for the definition a white Christmas,” said Phillips. “We have certain standards in this country. It’s not a legal definition, but it’s our definition.”

Head north for a white Christmas

There is about an 80 per cent chance Edmonton gets a white Christmas every year, said Phillips. Approximately two out of 10 Christmases won’t be white, he said.  

The last time Edmonton didn’t have a white Christmas was in the winter of 2005.  

Phillips said Edmontonians looking for a guaranteed white Christmas should consider travelling closer to the North Pole, to perhaps Yellowknife or Whitehorse.

In Edmonton — as it is in much of Canada — it’s rarely a sure thing.

“We are the snowiest nation in the world,” said Phillips. “We own the chance of a white Christmas here — and it’s not remotely guaranteed.”

Listen to Edmonton AM with host Mark Connolly, weekday mornings at CBC Radio One, 93.9 FM in Edmonton. Follow the morning crew on Twitter @EdmAMCBC. 

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