The first official day of winter is Thursday which seems appropriate considering the snowfall warning issued by Environment Canada.

The Foothills is forecasted to see anywhere from 15-25 cm of snowfall from Monday through to Wednesday evening.

Dan Kulak, meteorologist with Environment Canada, says Tuesday is when the heavier snow will start to hit.

"The snow we're getting today (Monday) is a bit of a warm up so to speak for the bigger event that's coming in for the middle part of the week here but we are expecting some areas in southwestern Alberta to be seeing 30 centimetres or more of snow, not quite that much in the Okotoks area but certainly it's going to be a big change from what we've been seeing the last two or three weeks."

He says the La Nina that was predicted for this winter is still relevant.

"The La Nina situation we talked about in the fall is still present and typically the La Ninas do bring cooler and snowier winters to western Canada," explains Kulak. "Perhaps we've just had a bit of a reprieve in the last few weeks and maybe what's been happening is going to be a sign of things to come, not quite sure, but it certainly is going to be a change from what we've been experiencing the last few weeks."

Kulak adds Environment Canada will issue an updated seasonal forecast for January, February, and March at the end of December.

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