City likely to see a white Christmas
First snow of the season has arrived — and with it the colder weather
Hamilton’s first snowstorm of the season isn’t expected to be a “monstrous” one.
But it should bring enough snow — followed by colder temperatures — to keep the white stuff around until the holidays.
Between seven and 12 centimetres of snow was expected to fall Monday, starting in the afternoon and continuing into the evening, followed by another two centimetres Tuesday, according to David Phillips, senior climatologist at Environment Canada.
“It’s not a shocker, it’s not a record breaker,” he said Monday, but added “the good news is this will probably give us our white Christmas.”
While Monday’s snowfall might make Tuesday’s morning commute difficult as people familiarize themselves with driving in snow again, it’s not unexpected, Phillips said.
By this time last year, the city had already had 19 centimetres of snow. “And it wasn’t a snowy winter,” he added. So far this season, Hamilton has only seen just
over two centimetres.
“What we’re going to see in the next two to three days is probably more snow than we’ve seen so far this winter,” he said.
After the snow stops, the cold is expected to move in.
The high on Wednesday is supposed to be -7 C, with negative temperatures in the double digits at night, so the snow won’t be melting, Phillips said.
Temperatures are expected to be cooler than normal next week as well.
“It’s going to feel like winter and it’s going to look like winter, although winter won’t be here for another week,” he added.
Bob Paul, the city’s manager of roads and maintenance, said his department had been monitoring pavement conditions Monday in preparation for the snowy forecast.
Night-shift staff was coming in early to handle whatever ended up coming Hamilton’s way — whether the roads require plowing or just some salt to help with conditions, he said.
“That will depend on how things go,” Paul said, noting different areas of the city get hit worse than others.
While this storm doesn’t look like it will require a “significant plow,” Paul said drivers can assist the city this winter by moving their cars off the street to make it easier to clear roads and by being patient and not passing plows.
“Drive to the conditions, please, and give our crews time to get the work done,” he said.