I am preparing for my second winter in Edmonton.
That sentence still feels strange to write.
Not because I have somehow mastered winter after surviving one. I absolutely have not. I am still learning what works, what I can skip, what deserves more money and what can wait until I find it on sale.
But there is one advantage to preparing for your second Edmonton winter.
You already know what the first one did to you.
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My first Edmonton winter technically began in spring
I arrived in Canada in March 2025.
They told me it was the first day of spring.
I remember hearing that and thinking that perhaps I had timed my arrival quite well. Winter was ending. Spring was starting. I could slowly adjust to Canadian weather.
Then I stepped outside.
It was around 9°C.
Nine.
Not minus nine.
Nine degrees above zero.
And I was already shaking.
I came from the Philippines, where 9°C is the sort of temperature you associate more with refrigeration than with walking outside.
For years, I had imagined cold weather with some affection. I liked the idea of wearing jackets. I wanted snow. I wanted to experience actual seasons.
Standing outside that first day, part of me was reliving all those moments when I had wished for this kind of weather.
The other part was asking what I had done.
Then the next day, it snowed.
So much for spring.
A client later gave me one of those lines you apparently hear in one form or another across Alberta:
“Here in Edmonton, if you don’t like the weather, just wait for five minutes.”
A churchmate had another:
“There are only two seasons in Alberta: winter and construction.”
After one winter here, I understand why people keep telling these jokes.
Before moving to Canada, winter mostly meant snow to me.
That is probably true for many newcomers from tropical countries. You see snow-covered houses in photographs. You watch Christmas movies. You see people wearing coats and children playing outside.
You think about snow.
You do not necessarily think about standing at a bus stop in minus 20 weather because you missed the bus you had been trying so hard to catch.
You do not think about slush.
Or ice.
Or static electricity.
Or the strange feeling of the inside of your nose freezing.
That last one really surprised me.
During one of the colder days, I remember breathing outside and feeling something change inside my nostrils. I had spent years wanting to experience Canadian cold, so there was still a tiny part of me thinking, Ah, so this is it.
That enthusiasm did not last long.
There is a point when “I wanted to experience Canadian winter” becomes “Okay, I have experienced enough Canadian winter for today.”
Edmonton’s extreme-weather planning gives some context to what serious cold actually means. The City can activate its winter extreme-weather response when forecasts call for temperatures of −20°C including wind chill for at least three consecutive days, usually alongside an Environment Canada alert. Open City recreation facilities and libraries remain available as places where people can warm up during winter.1
That is when winter stops being something you dress for because you want to feel comfortable.
You dress for it because you need to stay safe.
My first proper winter jacket came from Goodwill
I did not arrive completely jacketless.
Someone had given me a jacket.
It just was not enough.
So one of our early purchases was a trip to Goodwill, where we found a Quechua winter jacket for around $40.
It still had its tags.
That felt like winning something.
Later, we found a Tommy Hilfiger winter jacket at Marshalls for around $75 on sale. You can buy a similar one here.
Those purchases shaped one of my strongest opinions about preparing for winter:
You do not have to buy everything new.
And you definitely do not have to buy everything at full price.
Moving countries is expensive enough.
You are paying deposits. Buying household things. Sorting out transportation. Replacing things you could not bring with you. Sometimes you are starting an entire wardrobe again because the clothing you owned in your previous country simply was not designed for where you now live.
There is no prize for paying full price for your parka.
Look at Goodwill.
Look at other thrift stores.
Check Winners and Marshalls.
Watch clearance sections.
Look at Facebook Marketplace if you are comfortable buying there.
Accept a good hand-me-down if someone offers one.
My $40 Goodwill jacket did not care that it came from Goodwill when the temperature dropped.
Neither did I.
I stopped thinking about one thick jacket and started thinking in layers
A neighbour suggested thermal underwear.
I went to Walmart and bought two sets.
That turned out to be good advice.
Before my first winter, I thought the basic equation was simple:
Cold weather equals thick jacket.
After one Edmonton winter, I think more about layers.
A base layer.
A shirt.
A sweater or hoodie when necessary.
Then the winter coat.
If it gets warmer, I can remove something.
That last part became more important than I expected because nobody had properly explained another strange feature of Canadian winter to me.
You can be freezing outside and sweating ten minutes later.
You step onto a heated bus.
You enter a store.
You arrive at work.
Suddenly the huge jacket that had been protecting you outside feels like too much.
I was genuinely surprised by how often I could sweat during winter.
Current basic thermal pieces at Walmart Canada show why layering does not necessarily have to destroy a newcomer budget. As of September 2026, some basic thermal tops or bottoms are around $10 to $20 each, although materials and prices vary widely.2
You can spend much more on merino wool and outdoor brands.
I did not.
My basic Walmart sets worked for what I needed.
And that is another thing I learned during my first winter.
The question is not always, “What is the best winter clothing?”
It is, “What do I need for my life?”
Someone who walks three minutes from an underground parkade to an office has different needs from someone waiting outside for a bus.
I was the bus person.
That changed everything.
The cheapest thing I underestimated was a toque
If you asked me which inexpensive winter item surprised me most, I would have an immediate answer.
A toque.
I cannot overemphasize how helpful a toque is.
Someone gave me an Edmonton Oilers one. Later, because I was still building what I considered my proper Canadian winter wardrobe, we bought another one from Simons.
As of September 2026, straightforward options at Simons can be found around $19 to $49. Of course, the same page contains designer tuques costing many times that amount, if your ears demand luxury.3
Mine do not.
I just want them warm.
A churchmate also knitted wool scarves for my wife and me, and those became regular parts of our winter clothing.
I bought a balaclava too.
I barely used it.
That is one reason I hesitate when I see those giant lists claiming there are dozens of things you absolutely must own to survive a Canadian winter.
Must you?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
Your needs depend on where you live, how you travel, where you work and how much time you spend outside.
For me, the balaclava was optional.
The toque was not.
My first gloves were basically decorative
My first pair of winter gloves was cheap.
This is usually the point where I would like to tell you that I found another bargain.
I did not.
They were useless.
They looked like gloves. They covered my hands. Technically, they fulfilled the visual requirements of gloves.
Then Edmonton became properly cold.
Eventually I bought heated gloves.
Those worked much better, although they introduced another problem.
They were bulky.
Using my phone while wearing them was irritating.
That matters when your winter routine involves checking bus arrivals, looking at maps, answering messages or ordering an Uber while standing outside.
Someone later suggested that a good pair of leather gloves might work better for me.
Maybe.
I still have not budgeted for the pair I want, so I cannot tell you from personal experience that they are better.
I think that distinction matters.
There are things in this article I actually bought and used.
There are things people recommended to me.
And later in this guide, there are things I researched because they may matter to you even though I did not personally need them.
Those are not the same thing.
Then I slipped in my Hokas
For part of winter, I kept trying to wear my regular shoes whenever I thought I could get away with it.
I had winter boots.
In fact, I was fortunate enough not to have to buy my first pairs myself.
A Filipino couple I came to know bought me new WindRiver winter boots. The husband also gave me a pair of Columbia boots that he had never used.
I was grateful.
I was also stubborn.
Winter boots felt heavy.
Compared with the Hokas I had been wearing since I left the Philippines, they felt cumbersome. If the weather looked manageable and the sidewalk looked clear enough, I sometimes chose comfort.
Then I slipped at work.
There are lessons you learn from other people.
There are lessons you learn from reading.
And there are lessons where your body briefly becomes horizontal.
That was mine.
The problem was not simply snow.
It was ice.
Snow melts. Temperatures change. Water freezes again. What appears to be an ordinary sidewalk can become something else entirely.
After that, I bought removable ice cleats.
As of September 2026, Canadian Tire listings show just how much traction devices can vary. Basic removable grips can start around $13 to $20, while heavier designs can run around $30, $40, $55 or well beyond that.4
You do not automatically need the expensive ones.
I just know that after falling once, twenty dollars begins to sound quite reasonable.
Winter also taught me that boots are not only about warmth.
I now think about three things:
Warmth.
Traction.
Water resistance.
The third one surprised me.
Before Canada, snow in my imagination was fluffy, white and somehow dry.
Snow on the ground is not always that.
There is slush.
There is melting snow.
There is salt.
There is the dirty mixture that appears around entrances and sidewalks after people have been walking through it all day.
Winter is wet.
I did not expect that.
My winter was shaped by the bus
This may be the biggest difference between my first winter and the winter of someone who goes from a heated house to a heated car to a heated office.
I did not drive.
I depended heavily on Edmonton Transit, with Uber filling some of the gaps.
That changes how you prepare.
Your winter clothing cannot only keep you comfortable during the five-minute walk you expect.
It should give you some protection when the plan goes wrong.
And eventually, the plan will go wrong.
Your bus is late.
You miss it.
Your connection leaves.
The sidewalk slows you down.
You underestimate how long walking through snow will take.
I developed a routine where I would check my bus time and try not to leave home too early because I did not want to stand outside longer than necessary.
There was one problem.
I also walked more slowly in winter.
So I was performing this little calculation every day.
Leave too early and freeze at the stop.
Leave too late and watch your bus disappear.
I did the second one more than once.
ETS itself tells passengers to dress for the weather because buses are moving through the same winter road conditions as everyone else. Its cold-weather response begins at −20°C including wind chill. At that threshold buses stop kneeling to reduce the chance of the mechanism freezing, and most express services can be directed to pick up riders at all stops along their routes.5
After my first winter, I would give a transit-dependent newcomer one simple piece of advice:
Dress for the bus you might miss.
Not only the bus you expect to catch.
There is cold, and then there is cold that can hurt you
Frozen nostrils are funny when you tell the story later.
Extreme cold itself is not.
Frostnip can affect exposed skin, particularly places such as the face, ears and fingertips. Frostbite goes further and involves freezing of the skin and underlying tissues.6
The Alberta government advises people to dress in warm, windproof layers during extreme cold and notes that frostbite can develop quickly when conditions become severe.7
That is another reason I became such a believer in the humble toque.
Cover your ears.
Protect your fingers.
Protect your toes.
Pay attention to exposed skin.
And learn to read the weather forecast beyond one number.
Coming from the Philippines, I also had to become accustomed to Canadians saying “minus twenty” rather than “negative twenty.”
Then I had to learn about “feels like.”
The temperature says one thing.
The wind chill says another.
Eventually you realize why people are paying attention to both.
Winter followed me indoors
I expected winter to make me cold.
I did not expect it to make me dry.
My lips became dry.
My skin became dry.
My nose became dry and clogged.
And static electricity seemed to develop a personal interest in me.
I would touch something.
Shock.
Touch something else.
Shock.
After enough of these tiny electrical betrayals, I started to resent door handles.
Lip balm became normal.
Moisturizer became normal, which says something because I was not someone who regularly moisturized before.
We also bought a Vicks humidifier, mainly because it helped when my nose felt clogged.
Would I place a humidifier beside a winter coat on a newcomer essentials list?
No.
This is exactly the type of purchase I would wait on.
Live in your home first.
See how dry it becomes.
See how you respond.
Then decide.
I did not buy a space heater because we did not need one.
Our apartment was warm.
Heating was also included in our rent, which made a real difference to our winter budget.
That is one of the perks of apartment living.
We did not have to buy a shovel for home.
We did not have to maintain a furnace.
We did not have to worry about salting our own front sidewalk.
I do enough shovelling and salting at work anyway.
And yes, I am putting a boot tray on the list
This may not sound like a Canadian survival item.
Buy a boot tray.
At least consider one.
You arrive home wearing boots covered in snow, water, salt and everything Edmonton has mixed into the sidewalk that day.
Then it melts.
A boot tray gives the mess somewhere to go besides your floor.
This became strangely important to me because one of my personal winter irritations is the dirty wet floor outside our apartment door.
Current Walmart Canada listings show basic boot trays for roughly $8 to $20, so this is not one of the purchases that needs to consume your winter budget.8
A decent mat helps too.
And then there are dryer sheets.
I am including them because I eventually got tired of being shocked by my own existence.
Winter preparation is full of small things like this.
Everyone talks about the parka.
Nobody warns you about the doorknob.
If you drive, your list becomes different
Everything so far came from my own first winter.
This section did not.
I did not own a car during that winter, so consider this part researched rather than personally tested.
I watched coworkers deal with their cars on winter mornings, though.
There were days when I genuinely pitied them.
And then I went back to complaining about my bus.
Different problems.
The Government of Alberta recommends checking your tires, battery, belts, hoses, antifreeze, brakes, heater, defroster and windshield wipers before winter. It also recommends considering winter tires because they are designed to retain better traction in cold, snowy and icy conditions.9
Winter tires are an expense I would keep separate from the roughly $500 clothing-and-household budget I discuss later.
Vehicle.
Tire size.
Brand.
Whether you buy another set of wheels.
Installation.
Storage.
All of these change the cost.
Alberta also recommends carrying a winter emergency kit containing items such as a first-aid kit, blanket, extra clothing and footwear, flashlight, emergency food, ice scraper and snow brush, shovel and booster cables.9
You may already own half of those things.
There is no requirement to turn winter preparation into one giant shopping spree.
Look around your home first.
Edmonton does not stop because it snowed
This was another adjustment for me.
In Edmonton, snowfall can simply become part of the day.
People go to work.
Buses run.
Stores stay open.
Deliveries continue.
Life adjusts.
That does not mean everything immediately returns to bare pavement.
Edmonton clears streets according to priority. Major roads and important routes are dealt with before many residential streets. Current City standards call for Priority 1 essential roads to return to bare pavement within one day after snowfall ends, while local residential roads can retain snowpack and are handled on a much longer cycle when residential blading is initiated.11
The City can also declare parking bans with as little as eight hours’ notice when snow clearing requires them.12
These are the kinds of things I wish newcomer guides explained more often.
Winter is not only a temperature.
It changes how long your commute takes.
It changes where you park.
It changes how you walk.
It changes how you plan ordinary errands.
Preparing for it means learning the city, not just buying a jacket.
So how much should a newcomer budget?
When I first thought about this article, my answer was around $500 for one adult starting with very little.
After looking at September 2026 prices, I still think that is a reasonable target.
Not $500 for every possible winter item.
Not $500 for premium brands.
Not $500 including winter tires.
I mean enough to build a sensible basic winter wardrobe with some room for smaller household purchases.
Around $250 to $350: the bargain-hunting setup
This works best if you already own sweaters and other layers and are willing to thrift, shop clearance or accept hand-me-downs.
My own experience shows how much that can change the numbers.
My first proper jacket was about $40.
The Tommy Hilfiger jacket we later found was around $75.
My boots were gifts.
Someone gave me my first toque.
A churchmate knitted our scarves.
That meant I could put money elsewhere.
If I had to work within a very tight budget, I would put the largest share into the coat and footwear.
I would rather have a thrifted coat and suitable boots than an expensive branded jacket paired with shoes that send me sliding across the pavement.
Again.
The Hoka incident remains educational.
Around $450 to $600: the setup I would choose
This is my practical range.
It gives you room for a decent coat, winter boots, thermals, toque, gloves, scarf or neck covering, traction aids and some household items.
Maybe a humidifier later if you discover you need one.
You are not buying premium everything.
You are simply giving yourself enough room that every decision does not have to be based on finding the absolute cheapest version.
For someone arriving from a tropical country with almost no cold-weather clothing, I would aim somewhere around here if the budget allows it.
Around $750 to $1,000 or more: easy to reach, not automatically necessary
You can spend this without much effort.
A new parka.
Premium boots.
Merino base layers.
Several gloves.
Heated equipment.
More accessories.
Suddenly your winter wardrobe has become a financial event.
If those things fit your needs and budget, fine.
I just would not tell a newcomer they are required.
My $40 Goodwill Quechua jacket still exists in this story for a reason.
