Reflections on My First Winter in Québec

So, in case you missed it, on Christmas Day I finally reunited with my boyfriend and moved across the continent to snowy Québec. As I moved just 3 days into the official winter season, I’ve endured enjoyed a little over 2 months of the Winter Wonderland that is La Belle Province. Yes, I’m aware that there’s still a few weeks until the official end of the season (and spring begins eeekkkk!!) and that it often comes even later here in Eastern Canada…but let’s have some fun and reflect on my first proper winter in Québec.

It Really Does Get Freakin Cold During Winter in Québec…

Okay I know this one is pretty obvious and I was aware beforehand thanks to research and my boyfriend’s warnings. But man, nothing can prepare you for negative double digits in both Celsius AND Fahrenheit.

I was lucky enough to have been eased in, when I arrived in late December, it was still (barely) in the positives, without much snow sticking to the ground.

The first few times I stepped outside (fully rugged up!!) to negative double digit temps and major wind chill were rough. However, after a couple of months I’m happy to say I’ve (mostly) acclimated and actually mentioned I felt warm a few weeks ago when we hit a record high of 5 (Celsius) with sun, the warmest it’d been in a while.

…BUT There Are Quite a Few Sunny Days

I’d say there’s actually more on average than back home in Seattle. Sure it’s a lot colder but the number of rainy, gray days are less. It’s more a mix of extremes – full on blizzard days (that are gray and white) but also plenty of clear, crisp, sunny days that are cold.

And funnily enough, the snowy days are often the warmer ones as the clouds insulate the air. Meanwhile, the bright days are blue skied and clear, but with the lack of insulation, typically much more frigid.

HOWEVER, the sun on your face is irreplaceable and unless there’s heavy wind we always make a point to find a park bench to do some “off-season tanning”. LOL.

There’s SO MUCH To Do in Winter in Québec

If you like winter sports, then you’re in luck. I don’t know if it’s the pandemic or what, but every park, trail, mountain we go to, it’s like EVERYONE in the area is cross-country skiing. I guess Quebecers are quite stereotypical like that haha.

Beyond cross-country skiing, there’s of course normal skiing (can you tell I’m not a snow sports gal typically lol) on every mountain (although the mountains here are nowhere in the same league as the ones back home) as well as plenty of hiking and snowshoeing trails.

We came unprepared and rentals are hard to come by with Covid numbers still not amazing (although getting better), so we’ve mainly been doing a bunch of hiking (and realize crampons could be quite useful….). We’re considering buying discounted snow shoes at the end of the season.

And of course every park no matter how small, has a skating rink, the larger ones will even have a separate one for hockey (another major pastime here).

I’d like to try skating, (I’ve only been once when I was like 7,..) maybe next season when rentals are a thing again.

Winter Actually isn’t That Bad…Dare I Say I LIKE (LOVE??!) it Now?…

Okay, hear me out. I know as we get closer and closer to spring we all start loathing snowflakes, grey skies and cold temps. I’m almost there.

But if this winter in Québec has taught me ANYTHING it’s that you can learn to love the harshest of weather.

I grew up despising winter. Even the relatively mild ones back in the Pacific Northwest, although are days are shorter as we’re actually further north in Seattle than Montréal. Anyways, the gray, the rain, the “cold” (LOL I knew NOTHING), I DREAMED of living full time in sunny destinations like Australia, California, etc.

I never in a million years would have predicted myself relocating to Canada, let alone in DECEMBER.

But man. There’s just something about a proper snowy winter. It turns us all into children. Makes everything a bit more magical and makes you forgive -25 degrees for a bit. There’s also just so much you can do (see above) and makes you feel as though you’ve earned your hot/cold beverage at the end of the day.

So yes, Québec you’ve turned this rainforest, beach loving (I miss mountains though) PNW girl into a winter-lover. Let’s see how long it lasts LOL.

How about you? Do you love winter? Or have you been surprised by a locations weather before?