A strong trend is likely to continue during the holidays

Heavy trend

The holiday season is an opportunity to gather with family and friends, but it is also synonymous with time off for many, vacations and outdoor activities. If you are a winter sports enthusiast, your expectations are certainly high when it comes to cold and snow, two essential ingredients. For several years, the winter season seems to have come with difficulty and misery. Warm spells are frequent and snow is rare. This year, Quebec will not deviate from this strong trend.

Push of sweetness

According to the models, a brief period of intense cold during the weekend before the holidays would be followed by a burst of mildness. This sequence should last around ten days. This means that both Christmas and New Year’s Day would take place with a maximum above freezing point in southern Quebec. Between the two, the mercury risks rising up to 5°C at times.

Thin mat

Ski touring enthusiasts will have to work hard to look for places likely to offer sufficiently snow-covered slopes. The general rule that applies this year: the snow cover would be thinner than average throughout the province. Does this mean that southern Quebec would be on the pitch at Christmas and New Year’s Day? It’s not impossible. Right now, models are indicating a chance of accumulating a few inches before the weekend cold snap. However, the surge of mildness could be the final blow to the snowy carpet.

Unfavorable conditions

The overall picture of the holiday season seems unfavorable in terms of the atmosphere and the outdoor activities that are practiced during this period. A long sequence of mild spells, less snow and possibly even rain are likely to punctuate the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025. At the provincial level, this fortnight gives rise to an average of two spells as well as six days of mild spells. In the second case, there would be more.

With the collaboration of Réjean Ouimet and Kevin Cloutier, meteorologists.

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