Ten temperature records were broken in southern Alberta on Tuesday and one in northern Alberta. 

According to Environment Canada, Calgary hit a whopping 17 C on December 5, unseasonably warm for this time of year. 

Alysa Pederson, warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada says Cochrane wasn't far behind our neighbours to the east. 

"Cochrane broke a record, but the record period is only since 1984, which is when Springbank became a station that we get records for. We hit 16.1 C, and the previous record was from 2020 when we hit 10.2 C."

The summer-like weather didn't stick around for long though, we're already experiencing a shift.

"I've been calling it weather whiplash, which is very typical for Alberta, especially in the winter months. We have our chinooks which is 16 degrees one day and then two days later it's snow, and that's what we're looking at here." 

When it comes to predicting if Cochrane will see a white Christmas Pederson says it will just depend on what happens over the next few weeks.

"All it takes is one snowfall event between now and Christmas, now we are getting snow but temperatures are still going to be going above zero after this snowfall event." 

"I would say the chances are lower than they typically would be just given that we haven't already had any snow, so we don't really have that snowpack on the ground." says Pederson, "The chances of having a white Christmas are usually pretty high, but we have no base this year, so it's really just what the storm systems bring in over the next three weeks.  

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