After a sudden and semi-pleasant onset of winter that plunged Montreal into joyous chaos in early November, we’re waiting for the snow to start falling again. Everyone has had time to change their tires for snow tires – we hope – and get their boots and tuques out of the closets. We’re ready for a white Christmas.
And luckily, according to the Almanach des Fermiers, we’re going to have our holiday season in the snow – at the price of our little winter trench coats and vegan lambskin heeled boots that we’ll have to leave at home.
December week by week
Our best friend for predicting what’s going to grow in Quebec’s fields, and when, is the Almanach des Fermiers. And it’s also good for predicting the level of snow on Montreal streets – thankfully!
We’ve already read his predictions for winter 2025-2026 (of a snowy, wet and chaotic winter – read them here), but this time we’re focusing on the holiday season.
For the month of December, the Almanac gives predictions that promise us a rather fairy-tale accumulation of snow before Christmas, but which will make our last working weeks before the festive season meteorologically complicated.
- December 1-7: snowy, cold
- December 8-16: flakes, then sunny; freezing
- December 17-20: snowy, bitterly cold
- December 21-26: snow showers, cold
- December 27-31: snowy, very cold
Temperatures will be around -9 degrees Celsius, about 4 degrees below seasonal averages.
So, a snow-covered but very cold holiday season. For those of you who have started knitting scarves and gloves for your friends and family this Christmas: you’ll have to turn up the tempo.
What is a polar vortex?
Some of our colleagues in the media are talking about a polar vortex hitting Montreal in December. According to MétéoMédia, this is the meteorological phenomenon that will turn the winter of 2025-2026 into a “winter of yesteryear”, just like in the books.
It will be a colder, snowier winter than we’ve seen in recent years, even if February is forecast to be much warmer than seasonal norms.
A polar vortex is an area of low pressure based on an upper-air low and attached to the poles (North, South). The “vortex” is created by the cold air core of these zones and the thermal (warm) anticyclone attached to it in return. Polar vortexes can be up to 1,000 km in radius, and the air rotates around the center like a cyclone, hence the name.
The polar vortex, which came down from the Pole due to temperature changes in late autumn, has slid over the Plains to come and cool us down this winter…
In any case, it’s going to snow this Christmas. We’ll think about the rest later!
Have a great winter season in Montreal, and happy holidays!