BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1510 West

April showers, as the saying goes, bring May flowers. But how will last weekend’s two days of rain affect a closely watched contest in Kirkland?

That contest – now in its 10 year – is the game of guessing how long it will take the giant pile of snow at the Kirkland snow dump to melt.

“It’s a fun annual event,” said Kirkland councillor Mike Brown, who organizes the contest that has grown in popularity among the residents of Kirkland’s Timberlea district, where the snow dump on Ste. Marie Road is located.

So how long does the snow dump take to melt?

Well, that is a function of how much snow was dumped at the site in any given winter, how warm the spring and early summer temperatures are and how much rain we get.

In past years, the pile of snow has lasted well into July, Brown said, who remembers it even making a last gasp as late as the first few days of August.

According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, 161.8 centimetres of snow fell in the Montreal region since Jan. 1, 2025. So that reflects only the snow of part of a winter season. It does not include the snow that fell in the last months of 2024. And although the region saw record back-to-back snowfalls in the late winter months earlier this year, the amount of snow is actually less than in previous years.

The pile of snow at the dump represents all the snow cleared from the streets and parking lots in Kirkland.

This year, 140 residents of Timberlea have entered the contest. To be eligible, residents have to be members of the Timberlea Neighbourhood Watch Facebook group. Each participant simply selects a day they predict will be the day the entire pile of snow will disappear. The cut-off date to enter a guess was April 10.

Now, all everyone has to do is wait – and watch the pile melt. It’s not an action-packed contest, but the popularity of the event has grown over the years. The winner, Brown said, will be announced this summer, with a series of prizes awarded.

“It brings people together,” he said, explaining that the pile of snow – and how long it lasts – is an ongoing topic of conversation in the neighbourhood.

Brown created the Facebook group in 2013, shortly after he was elected to council. It is a closed group just for residents of his district, where they can “interact and keep each other informed on different issues that arise from time to time, such as, upcoming and ongoing city projects, city events and services, city fundraisers, safety, lost pets, crime, etc.”

The prize pool for the contest has grown over the years, with everything from beauty products to car wash certificates donated to the effort.

Cutline:

This photograph of the snow dump on Ste. Marie Road in the Timberlea area of Kirkland was taken last Thursday. How long will it last this year? Guessing the date of when it will all be melted is the focus of a contest organized by Kirkland councillor Mike Brown.