Green Christmas most likely reality for the Okanagan

It’s looking like most of the Okanagan will be getting a greenish Christmas this year.

Global News meteorologist Peter Quinlan said the likelihood of snow is fairly dim in the days ahead, though there is some uncertainty in the Christmas weekend forecast.

“This will likely get clarified and we’ll have more certainty with the forecast in the days ahead,” Quinlan said.

3:28 Global Okanagan Weather: December 15, 2023

“At this point, there is a chance of showers on Christmas Day, but if temperatures are slightly cooler or the moisture moves in a bit earlier in the morning when it’s chillier, there is a chance some of that could fall as snow in parts of the valley bottom.”

That, he said, is worth watching.

“At this point, it’s looking like a brown/green Christmas for most of the valley bottom though. Although there are some higher elevation areas and parts of the Shuswap that might see some of the snow that’s on the ground linger,” Quinlan said.

“Environment Canada requires at least tro centimetres of snow to be considered a white Christmas.”

As things currently are, Quinlan said there’s a 64-per cent of a white Christmas in Kelowna. Also, these greenish-brown Christmases are relatively rare for the valley.

He noted that there have only been 24 “brown Christmases” since 1955 and on Christmas day the average amount of snow on the ground is five centimetres.