Snow-less season drifts into record books

No matter when Edmonton finally gets its first snowfall of the season, this year will already have set a record, says a local meteorologist.

“This is the latest we’ve ever gone without having any snowfall downtown,” CTV meteorologist Josh Classen said in an interview Tuesday.

It’s just the fourth time in recorded history that Edmonton hasn’t had at least some snow in either September or October, even if that snow later melted, Classen said.

In 1902, Edmonton got its first snowfall on Nov. 3. In 1921 and 1963, the first snow came Nov. 6, Classen said.

“Now that we’re past that, it’s a record setter. We likely won’t get our first snowfall until Friday night or Saturday morning, which is Nov. 11th or 12th, so this is the latest we’ve ever gone without having any snowfall downtown.”

The snowless fall is a pleasure for some people and a sore point for others.

Wade Izzard and Jason Burns took advantage of the delayed snow to squeeze in a final golf game last week.

“It was just because the weather was so great,” Izzard said. “It was cold but it was excellent.”

The dry fall is also giving people extra time to get their yard work done, said Izzard, who has been helping a friend tidy his yard for winter. “I’ve seen a lot of people that have been mowing their lawns recently. As a matter of fact, on Sunday I saw someone mowing their lawn in the Meadowlark area. They’re doing it to gather up the leaves, instead of raking.”

The late snowfall has allowed Alf’s Roofing Ltd. to recoup some of the business that snowy and wet weather cost the company early this year, said owner Alfred Weimann. Cold weather and heavy snow lasted until April, then it was windy in May, Weimann said.

“In June and July, it rained a lot, which was good for the farmers but not good if you’re in the roofing business. We were lagging in business volume a lot.”

The weather dried up in August and that continued through the fall. Business at Alf’s Roofing Ltd. has been excellent this October and November, Weimann said.

“It’s relatively dry, reasonably mild and, most of all, there is no snow,” he said. “Snow coming so late this year, in our case, made up for what we lost.”

The owner of Easy Rider, a snowboard, skateboard and paddleboard shop in south Edmonton, said he took advantage of the weather to ride his stand-up paddleboard on the North Saskatchewan River on Sunday. “I don’t generally fall in,” Warren Currie said. “Basically, I’ll go until it freezes solid.”

However, he’s ready for a good winter whiteout. If it doesn’t snow in the next few weeks, the weather will start to hurt his snowboard sales.

“Right now we’re doing OK, but it needs to get cold and miserable and start snowing for me to be happy,” Currie said with a laugh.

“The snowboard guys are definitely chomping at the bit to get going.”

Ski hills around the city are busy making snow and getting ready to open. Snow Valley Edmonton, near 119th Street and Whitemud Drive, is set to open Friday, said spokesman Tim Dey. The hill normally opens mid-November, he said.

“If it was warm, our snow-making efforts would have been melted away and we would have just kept pushing the opening back, but it’s been cool enough, especially in the evening, that we’ve been able to keep the snow,” Dey said. “People are just pumped to get out there.”

While Edmontonians wait for those first flakes, they need to keep watering their trees and shrubs and keep perennials moist, said Lucy Chang, chairwoman of the Edmonton Horticultural Society City Gardeners. Chang recommends “a good soaking” once a week until the ground freezes.

“I would love to see a good snow cover,” Chan said.

A dusting of snow did fall in southwest Edmonton last Friday, “about 72 snowflakes,” Classen said with a laugh, “but downtown hasn’t .”

Snow could accumulate in Edmonton Friday into Saturday, Classen said. If not, it will likely blanket the ground late next week, he said.