It's warm around N.L., and all winter lovers can do is wait
Warm temperatures, little snow keeping people off snowmobiling trails and ski hills
Many parts of Newfoundland and Labrador have been hit with abnormally warm weather this week, leaving snowmobilers itching to get out on the trails scratching their heads as to when winter will really begin.
CBC meteorologist Ashley Brauweiler said much of Newfoundland was one to two degrees warmer than average in December, while parts of the Northern Peninsula and Labrador were between three and seven degrees warmer than normal.
Much of the province saw temperatures above normal this week, highlighted by temperatures around 6 C in western Newfoundland on Thursday, around 3 C in the St. John's area on Friday, and close to zero in parts of Labrador.
The readings come after news that 2023 was reported as the hottest year on record, and as a strong El Niño year gets underway, affecting weather far and wide.
"Typically what that means is we see a mild winter across Canada," Brauweiler said Friday.
"There are some indications, though, that we will see some arctic blasts which could bring some snow, and that looks like it should move in within the next couple of weeks or even within the next month," she said.
"Certainly is a little bit later than normal."
The warm temperatures have made to a strange start to snowmobiling season for Matthew Swain, general manager of the Newfoundland and Labrador Snowmobile Federation.
"Normally we're starting grooming our trails by the beginning of January in most areas," he said.
Swain said the local climate has been changing in recent years, adding enthusiasts hope to get eight weeks of snowmobiling by the end of the season, like last year.
"People are kind of realizing that our winters are getting shorter," Swain said.
"We try to make the best of what we do get, obviously. If we can get another eight weeks or so this year, hopefully you know get a little bit later into March [or] something like that, we should have a good year again."
The itch to snowmobile is also felt across Labrador, where there's much less snow on the ground than usual in January.
"My God, I think it's ridiculous," said Roxanne Fisher of Happy Valley-Goose Bay. "Our snowmobilers, we want to go out and go snowmobiling and enjoy this Big Land, and we can't."
"I haven't remembered any winters like this," said resident Pauline McKay.
"I think it's really crazy. Because I like to garden, and some of my trees are already budding."
Marble Mountain unphased
Although the warm temperatures don't make for ideal snow-making conditions, Marble Mountain general manager Richard Wells said he isn't concerned about prospects for the ski resort outside Corner Brook.
Winter is going to show up, said Wells, and he's confident they'll have a great season, Wells said. "We're confident our snow-making infrastructure is going to perform, and we're not far away."
Wells said work will continue ahead of an expected cold front in western Newfoundland next week, which will give staff at Marble Mountain a more concrete timeline as to when the hill will open.
The hill was open for 76 days last season — the most since the winter of 2014 — and Wells said crews will go as long as the weather allows this year.
"If need be we will be skiing well into April.… We do not have a target closing date in mind, and we're going to ski as long as Mother Nature allows it."
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With files from Colleen Connors and Jon Gaudi
