It will ‘look’ and ‘feel’ like winter: climatologist

Temperatures are expected to drop by mid-week

Winter has hit the Hammer.

It might not officially arrive until Dec. 21, but the snow coming down Sunday gave Hamiltonians their first taste of what is expected to come this season, according to Environment Canada senior climatologist Dave Phillips.

“This is just what we call the weather trailer for the big movie coming once winter starts,” he said. “This could very well be the windup (to the) white Christmas that you’re dreaming of.”

Environment Canada issued a snowfall warning for Hamilton and Halton Sunday afternoon.

Fifteen centimetres of snow was expected to hit the area overnight, with things predicted to taper off sometime before rush hour Monday morning.

Phillips expected the snow wouldn’t “bury” the city, but would make it look winter-like and affect roads.

“It is the first significant snowfall of the season,” he said. “We have to learn how to drive all over again.

“There’s always more chaos on the street when we have our first snow.”

Flurries are forecasted for later in the week, with another significant snowfall expected for overnight Friday, Phillips said.

Temperatures are expected to get cooler mid-week, dropping to as low as -14 C on Thursday night, he said. This compares to the typical high and low of 1 C to -6 C for this time of year, he added.

“It will not only look like winter, but it will feel like winter,” Phillips said.

Last year, Hamilton received 106 centimetres of snow for the entire winter, compared to the 157 centimetres it typically sees, he said.

This year, more of the white stuff is expected, Phillips said.

“Hamilton is a snowy city,” he said. “It’s not something that we should feel morose or cheated about. “This is winter.” The Ontario Provincial Police were busy responding to minor collisions Sunday evening but had not seen anything serious, Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said around 6:30 p.m.

“We’re getting lots of calls,” he said, noting several were for cars in ditches.

Hamilton police said Sunday evening there had been no reports of major collisions to the city’s central or east-end divisions.