Warmer end to autumn keeps skiers from slopes, shops

One local ski resort is eager to open its slopes, but the unusually warm fall weather is keeping its hills closed.

Camp Fortune in Chelsea, Que., was hoping to be open by now, but its assistant director said they're weeks behind schedule. 

"We are hoping winter comes, and that we can start ski season very quickly," said Erin Boucher.

The Camp Fortune ski season can start as early as the second week of November and last until late April. This year, it's looking like a mid-December open. 

"Our target, which was a little bit delayed, was Dec. 10. It's now looking like our new target is Dec. 16," Boucher said.

Ottawa has experienced some of the warmest temperatures on record this fall, and while it was good for an extended patio season, it's not great for winter sports lovers. 

Camp Fortune said it isn't entirely reliant on natural snow to get the hills running, especially this early on, because it has snow guns. What it does need, Boucher said, is consistent cold temperatures. 

"Ideally –10 C, or colder. We can do it at –3 or –5 C, but then when it warms up in the day, you have to shut down the system."

Boucher said they'll start to get "a bit nervous" if they don't get the weather they need, especially with the end-of-year holidays being their busiest time of the year.  

Ski shop lull 

Kunstadt Sports, a ski and winter apparel shop, says it's also feeling the impact.

"We had a very good start to the season with the cold weather, and in the last week or two with the warmer weather, we've definitely seen things slow down," said Freddy Allport, the Glebe's store manager.

Allport said December and January are usually the busiest months for the shop and he's hopeful that sales will pick up again for equipment once the snow starts to fall.

Where are you, winter?

David Phillips, a senior climatologist with Environment Canada, said not to worry, winter weather is coming — though not in the immediate future.

"We're going to see a couple more days of temperatures that seem elevated and then we're going to get something that is kind of closer to normal," Phillips said. 

December in Ottawa typically sees more snow than rain, Philips said, with temperatures typically sitting around –2 C for a daytime high and –9 C for a low.

He said the region is getting hit with surges of warm air from the United States that aren't intense, but don't seem to quit. 

"They're just coming one wave after another. One leaves and the other comes in," he said. "Of course, there's no snow on the ground because snow on the ground would sort of chill those warm air masses. But there's no chilling."

That's expected to change in the coming days. 

"Beginning next week, any kind of precipitation we get will be the white stuff and not the liquid stuff. Temperatures will be comfortably cool but not raw and brutal," Phillips said. Environment Canada has snow in its longer-term forecast for Wednesday.

As for those hoping to hit the slopes in the area, he said their time is going to come. 

"Just because it's not freezing kind of weather now, doesn't mean it's going to be a shutout this particular winter. [There's] lots of time to turn cold into snow."