Saskatoon on pace to break snowfall record in November

A meteorologist with Environment Canada says Saskatoon is on pace to break a long-standing snowfall record for the month of November.

Terri Lang says 53 centimetres have already fallen in Saskatoon with 10 days still left in the month.

“An average November snowfall is around 13 centimetres totally, so we’re well past that,” Lang said Friday. “From our records, it shows that the maximum-amount record snowfall for November is 57.4 centimetres, set in the 1940s.”

The first day of winter is Dec. 21.

“On average we get 93.1 centimetres per year of snow (in Saskatoon), so we’re over halfway there already and winter hasn’t even started,” said Lang.

Lang says this is a La Nina winter, the opposite of an El Nino year that tends to bring warm, dry winters.

“Forecasts are showing it will be colder than average for the winter and snowier than average,” said Lang. “It doesn’t mean it won’t warm up and it doesn’t mean we won’t have periods where it doesn’t snow. It just means on average this is what the winter is showing.”