Snow at Christmas? Not likely in Regina or Saskatoon

When Saskatoon got its first real snowfall on Nov. 5, Jan Sedgewick was thrilled.

She's with the Saskatoon Nordic Ski Club, which is now warning people to stay off cross-country trails when the temperature rises above zero.

"The warm weather has done a lot of damage to the trails with them compressing and sinking down," Sedgewick said. "The snow becomes very hard, like plaster, and it becomes very shallow as well."

The club holds weekly ski lessons for young people, and has offered school field trips for thousands of Saskatoon students each year.

The lack of snow makes it harder, Sedgewick said.

"It's like herding cats when you have ten or eleven kids and they don't have a set path to follow," said Sedgewick.

"We just need a big dump of snow."

Snowfall averages for the last 30 years show Saskatoon usually has between seven and eight centimetres of snow at this point in December.

This year, there's less than two centimetres at the Saskatoon airport.

"It can vary so much," said Terri Lang, a Saskatoon-based meteorologist with Environment Canada. "It's certainly mild this year and the snow cover is thin to start with."

Typically, Lang said Saskatoon sees daytime highs around -9C at this time of year, with lows down to -20C at night.

Very little precipitation fell in Saskatoon in autumn, which was one of the ten coldest on record.

"It is still freezing at night," Lang said. "At least we're not losing [the snow] as fast as we might."

Snowfall records show Saskatoon saw its first brown Christmas in 1997, while Regina has seen them in 1964, 1979, 1987, 1997, 2002 and 2011.

Lang said this year's forecast calls for a brown Christmas in both of Saskatchewan's largest cities.

A free downtown skating rink in Regina's Victoria Park likely won't open until closer to New Year's Day due to the warm temperatures, officials said.

"Because it's been so warm, it's basically a giant puddle," said Lindsay Desrochers, with the Regina Downtown Business Improvement District. 

She said last year was similar, with the rink opening a few days before New Year's Eve.

Weather records from 1981 to 2010 show Regina typically reaches an average daytime high of -7C in December, with lows hovering around -18C.

"I can deal with this," said Tim Drobot, noting the relatively balmy weather makes it easier for him to cycle throughout Regina.

Until recently, Regina saw an average of 9 centimetres of snow in December.

This year, there is no reported snow on the ground at the Regina airport, although some patches in the northwest part of the city have reached 7 centimetres.

"It might be tough keeping a car clean but at the same time you're not freezing when you're outside," Drobot added.

"I can deal with this," he said.