Winter arrives in Edmonton with a shake and a shudder

Edmontonians woke up Monday morning to snowy streets and temperatures sliding toward 20 C, signaling that winter is here and likely to stay.

An Arctic front from Alaska is to blame for the light snow and plummeting temperatures.

Weather experts say we shouldn't be surprised.

"We've had it fairly mild so far, so we sort of can expect this," Tim Gaines with Environment Canada said.

"Winter is winter here, and we can get cold weather and it can be quite snowy as well."

Edmonton residents usedhumour to comfort themselves.

Temperatures are forecast to hover around 20 for the rest of the week, with the mercury diving toward 30 at night.

The cold and snow comes almost two months after Edmonton had itsfirst snowfall of the season in October.

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Gaines said we can expect the cold snap to last for a couple of weeks.