Although it might be more fun to bet on whether or not anyone from the provincial government will face criminal charges from the RCMP as part of the Greenbelt investigation, there is another popular bet this time of year: The city’s first snowfall. And odds are that we are still a couple of weeks away from the white stuff, at least.

Last year was the first time snowfall betting became a thing.

According to a place called OLBG: The Sports Betting Community, betting sites such as Fanduel Canada,”have opened up betting odds on when the first snowfall of the season will fall in various cities in Ontario.”

Local residents will benefit from the knowledge the odds of Toronto getting its first snowfall in the next couple of weeks aren’t great. Phew, we dodged that wintry bullet.

But, the most likely time period is the last two weeks of the month, Nov. 16-30, which has odds of -125. The longest odds, and biggest payoff is for a snowfall of 1cm or more to not happen until the 2024. A $100 bet for this time period will payoff at $2600.

But since we are taking a fact-based approach to weather prognostication, why aren’t we checking with the Farmer’s Almanac? Good and valid question.

According to the good people at Farmer’s Alamanac, Toronto and all of Southern Ontario is in for a doozy of a winter: cold, and snow, lots of it.

However, the Weather Network is going in the opposite direction with a cold period in November followed by a “mild weather pattern to return and continue through much of December.”

Maybe those long shot odds of a January first snow aren’t so bad?

Sure, there are a few opinions out there, but one thing we can tell you with absolute certainty. It isn’t snowing right now.