April snow is no April Fools' joke: Canadian regions most at risk
April showers bring May flowers, right? Not so fast.
While April is indeed a spring month, we can’t rule out seeing snow, even in major cities.
As March came to a close, you can see (in the image below) a decent snowpack across a large part of the country shown in the dark blues and purples; but cities like Toronto, Ottawa, Halifax and even Montreal were pretty bare.
And the same thing can be said as we move west for areas including Vancouver, Regina and Winnipeg, where the ground looked ready for spring.
DON'T MISS: Canada's April Forecast
But here’s why we all still have to keep our winter gear close by.
Take a look at how much snow these cities can see on average for the month (see image below). Toronto sits at 4 cm, the number climbs higher for Montreal at 12.9 cm, and Halifax can see about 16 cm.
However, Haligonians might remember just two years ago when the city got slammed with 23 cm of snow in early April -- and that was in just one day.
And while you’ll likely not be buried in a record-breaking blizzard in St. John’s, Nfld., the city still pulls in an impressive 25 cm of snow, on average for the month.
Meanwhile, in the west, Vancouver is pretty safe to celebrate that it’s finally spring, with less than a centimetre of snow for the month, and cherry blossoms generally in bloom.
However, the same cannot be said for other parts of the west. Some cities on the Prairies can certainly continue to feel the winter chill, like Winnipeg averaging 10 cm, and Calgary 18 cm.
And let’s not forget last year -- when Calgary received a healthy 13 cm in one day, right before the month came to close.
So while most of April is about melting snow, and yes rain showers, as Canadians we know we can’t be surprised when Mother Nature serves up a little snow too.
For a complete look at Canada’s April Forecast, see our exclusive long-range forecast, here.
