Parts of northeastern Ontario had record high temperatures for December

Cities across northeastern Ontario were hit with record-breaking warm temperatures last week that have delayed winter activities for some.

On Dec. 30, high temperature records set in 1965 were shattered in Greater Sudbury, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie and North Bay.

At the Sudbury Airport the temperature reached a high of 6.8 C on Dec. 30, which beat the previous record of 2.2 C, from 1965.

Sault Ste. Marie had the highest temperature in the region on that date, with a high of 9.3 C. The previous high for Dec. 30 was 4.4 C, also in 1965.

"We had a lot of warmer air move in from the United States that sort of remained in circulation for a few days," said Environment Canada meteorologist Victoria Nurse. 

"Now, periods of warming and thawing are not uncommon during December. It does happen. But in this case, the prolonged period of warming was very unusual for this time of the year."

That "prolonged period of warming" has been a big setback for snowmobilers like James Saville.

Saville is the president of the Sudbury Trail Plan, and said the snowmobile season in the region will be off to a late start due to the warm weather.

"I think kind of provincewide we're in the same spot," Saville said. "I know even far north, in the Cochrane area, they had to put a hold on everything for a while."

With more seasonal weather forecasted, Saville said he hopes they can open the trails soon, and have a season that extends into April.

"There's nothing we can do," he said. "We can't change it. We're not, we're not a snow hill. We can't just make snow on demand."

Not all winter activities set back

Paul Jacques, an avid ice fisherman from Chapleau, said the winter conditions so far have been beneficial for his hobby.

The recent warm spell melted much of the snowfall that arrived earlier in December, which exposes lake ice to the cold air, and makes it freeze faster.

"We have roughly 10 inches of ice here on the lake that I live on," Jacques said. "I mean it started off a little bit grim. I didn't know how long it would take to get on the ice."

Darren Sanderson, the marketing manager at the Searchmont Ski Resort in Sault Ste. Marie said the region's recent warm spell hasn't dampened the ski season.

"We had our earliest opening this season on November 24th, so we were able to beat our previous record by four days," he said.

Other ski hills haven't been so lucky, Sanderson said, which has meant they've gotten business from skiers across Michigan and other parts of Ontario.