'A little behind schedule': Mild weather pushes back start of seasonal recreation
While some people are welcoming the warm weather Winnipeg has seen and continues to see, those looking forward to the typical frosty forecast may have to wait a little bit longer.
According to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), there aren’t any flurries in the forecast that could stick around anytime soon. Meteorologists point to the weather phenomenon El Nino for the not-so-wintery weather.
“For western Canada, El Nino events tend to give us warmer than average and drier than average winters,” said ECCC meteorologist Terri Lang.
These kinds of winters aren’t ideal for many businesses and recreational facilities across Manitoba that rely on cold conditions to operate. These include ski and snowboarding resorts, snowmobile race tracks and community centre ice rinks.
Scott Street has been the operations supervisor at the Corydon Community Centre’s three sites for 16 years. According to Street, by this time of the year, the facility’s outdoor rinks should be nearly ready to open to the public.
“We’re a little bit behind schedule right now,” Street said. “We’re not getting that quick freeze that we like.
“It’s a bit of a losing battle some days.”
A quick freeze and some flurries are just some of the key conditions Holiday Mountain Resort in La Rivière, Man. needs before starting its ski and snowboard season in less than two weeks on Dec. 15.
“This is our snowmaking period and so we’re not able to make snow,” said general manager Abe Sawatzky. “So it’s preventing us from opening as early as we’d normally like.”
In Beauséjour, Man., the Canadian Power Toboggan Championships (CPTC) are expecting more than 100 racers this weekend. Organizers say that while they don’t need snow, they require below-zero temperatures to run the race.
“Every year, it brings a different element,” said Jared Black, CPTC president. “We can’t control it, right? So we just try and do the best that we can.”
Street said the lack of open outdoor rinks limits indoor ice availability and overall recreational activity, and can even put a financial strain on community hockey clubs.
“We are quite busy inside,” Street said. “There’s so many teams and they like to use the outdoor ice. For one, it’s a lot cheaper.
“It’s been a strain on the system for sure.”
For people looking to lace up their skates and hit the city-run rinks, the public works department told CTV News it hopes to have its outdoor amenities up and running soon – just in time for the holiday season.
In regards to whether Winnipeg will see a white Christmas, Environment Canada says it’s still too soon to say.
“We consider a white Christmas to be with two centimetres of snow on the ground at a weather station that's measured. If it's less than two centimetres, it's considered to be a brown Christmas,” Lang said. “If there's two centimetres of snow on the ground and it's snowing on Christmas Day, it's considered to be a perfect Christmas.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6969939.1721385931!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
Widespread technology outage disrupts flights, banks, media outlets and companies around the world
A global technology outage grounded flights, knocked banks offline and media outlets off air on Friday in a massive disruption that affected companies and services around the world and highlighted dependence on software from a handful of providers.
LIVE UPDATES Latest on global IT outage: Airlines, businesses hit by technology disruption
A major internet outage affecting Microsoft is disrupting flights, banks, media outlets and companies across the world, with problems continuing hours after the technology company said it was gradually fixing an issue affecting access to Microsoft 365 apps and services.
What is CrowdStrike, the company linked to the global outage?
The global computer outage affecting airports, banks and other businesses on Friday appears to stem at least partly from a software update issued by major US cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, experts told CNN.
Canadian families will receive more in their next Canada Child Benefit payment. Here's why
Canadian families receiving Canada Child Benefit program payments can expect more cash in their cheques this Friday.
Trump urges unity after assassination attempt while proposing sweeping populist agenda in RNC finale
Donald Trump, sombre and bandaged, accepted the GOP presidential nomination on Thursday at the Republican National Convention in a speech that described in detail the assassination attempt that could have ended his life just five days earlier before laying out a sweeping populist agenda, particularly on immigration.
Trudeau appointing new minister Friday, to replace O'Regan
Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be filling a fresh vacancy on his front bench, heading to Rideau Hall to appoint a replacement for his outgoing labour minister and long-time friend, Seamus O'Regan.
Thinking about getting a tattoo? New research might change your mind
Sealed bottles of tattoo and permanent makeup ink, including some marked as sterile, contained millions of potentially dangerous bacteria, according to new research by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Drone strike by Yemen's Houthi rebels kills 1 person and wounds at least 10 in Tel Aviv
An Iranian-made drone sent by Yemen's Houthi rebels struck Tel Aviv on Friday, leaving one person dead and at least 10 wounded in the group's first lethal strike into Israel.
Flights at Montreal's Trudeau Airport affected by global IT outage
Some airlines at Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport are being affected by a global technology outage.