Warm weather is giving local businesses a longer vacation than expected this year. Ontario’s Blue Mountain ski resort’s spokesperson Kelly O’Neil announced last Friday that managers and supervisors decided to lay off 1,300 part-time and seasonal workers, for a minimum of three weeks, due to the lack of clientele.
“It’s the first time we’ve had to open and close several times since the beginning of the season,” Ms. O’Neil said, “It’s the first time for such extensive layoffs too.”
Quebec’s economy is also feeling the heat from record-high temperatures and a lack of snow. The unusually warm weather is hurting seasonal business profits.
“It’s very difficult,” says Carla Vecchio, a local clothing business owner. “We stock up with winter apparel for the season to make a couple of more bucks, but with this temperature, we are now having trouble paying our rent. There is only so much inventory and restocking you can do to pass the time.”
Bradley Phillips from Enviro-lawn has had work twice in the past three weeks from the landscaping company. “Warm weather is always enjoyable but yeah, I get bored sometimes, there’s not a lot of work.”
In Montreal, there are mixed reactions about the weather as kids still play in parks without wearing winter jackets. Massimo Salvatorelli works as a park monitor. He has not worked since the end of September. “I go out anyways on a cold night to water the outside skating rink, hoping, but wake up to above freezing temperatures or rain. It doesn’t make sense for January. The weather doesn’t allow me to do my work.”
Temperatures for late November and December have all been significantly warmer than normal, according to weather statistics. Some meteorologists point to El Nino, warm water currents in the tropical Pacific affecting weather conditions worldwide. El Nino is keeping most of the cold air away from Canada and the U.S., explained AccuWeather meteorologist Bill Kines.
Still, it was only the 15th warmest December since the National Weather Service began keeping records in 1934. The month’s average temperature was 6 degrees, which factors in both daily highs and lows for the entire month. British climate scientists predict that the resurgent El Ni
