It is safe to say that the warm weather over Vancouver Island and the South Coast has put a bit of a damper on the ski season, but locals are trying to stay optimistic that more snow is in the forecast.
As of Tuesday, Mount Washington Alpine Resort’s snow report shows a snow base of around 20 cm, with only 4 cm falling overnight and most of it made with a snow machine. Mount Cain on the North Island, meanwhile, has not had enough snow to open.
Conditions like these have influenced local businesses, such as Ski Tak Hut in downtown Courtenay, which usually receives a lot of business with rentals this time of year.
“We have seen a decline given the snow conditions,” said Ski Tak Hut managing partner Jade Keene. “The retail business was down a little bit as we expected given the snow conditions but there was actually pretty good momentum through September, October and November.
“We always hope to be skiing the whole mountain come Christmas time, but on the West Coast that doesn’t always happen.”
Keene adds this is not the first time conditions have been challenging for skiing on Mount Washington and we had similar conditions around a decade ago. However, the difference this year, Keene says, is Mount Washington’s snow-making ability that they did not have a year ago.
These conditions come in a year when temperature records are being broken on the Island and Coast, including an overnight low of 8.3 degrees on Dec. 30 in Powell River and daytime highs of over 12 in the Comox Valley, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Meteorologist Armel Castellan says the warmer temperatures are partly due to the El Niño weather pattern that usually comes in mid-December, and is on track for all of 2023.
“We just had consistent warmth. All summer long and into the fall we had very little in the way of normal weather was always a little bit above,” said Castellan. “We are entering into the first full month of El Niño and that really brings that warmer trend.”
However, Castellan says we may be seeing some breakdown of the warmer weather and perhaps some snow down to sea level at the end of the week and into next week.
Keene adds there still seems to be a lot of enthusiasm from skiers going up the mountain despite the warm season. He adds they hope for more but are trying to make the best of the current conditions.
“People are still excited to go skiing. A lot of families have already committed to their passes,” said Keene. “There’s a lot of winter ahead and we are by no means ready to write this one off.”
Castellan adds the warmer weather has also made it easier for families to take their young kids skiing, and the groomed runs are in alright condition.
While cold weather won’t last long, Castellan says it will move in and out of cold weather through the rest of the season as January is the coldest month of the year.
“Mother Nature has its way and we’ll have to stay tuned with a week-by-week forecast instead of a seasonal outlook which is extremely hard to get correctly,” said Castellan.
