CORNWALL, Ontario – They will be golfing Friday in Cornwall. That’s right, golfing.
With just two weeks to go before Christmas the wacky weather that seems to have put winter on hold has sent people into the streets in short sleeves and is returning duffers to Summerheights Golf Links – for one day, anyway.
The club announced this week it would open one of its nine-hole courses for Friday. The weather forecast is 12C with a 40 per cent chance of showers.
It’s not unheard of for it to be minus 12C with two feet of snow on the ground this time of year in the Cornwall area…but not this year.
“We saw the weather forecast and we thought, what the heck,” said Summerheights owner Rory MacLennan, who added his clun typically shuts things down within the first week of November. “This is the first time we’ve done something like this – a one-off.”
Things are not as chipper, though, over at the Big Ben Ski Centre in Cornwall where officials can’t do anything until the temperature plunges and (god forbid) some snow starts to fall.
Big Ben Ski Centre operator Jack Ruest is pulling out all the stops in an attempt to get the season started.
“I just said to someone the other day, maybe we have to write a letter to Santa Claus,” he laughed. “We’re in a holding pattern, just like they are at Mt. Ridgaud and Titus.
“This (season) is up there, to say the least.”
Ruest said several days of freezing temperatures will be required to make snow at the ski centre, but even that seems unlikely for the next few weeks.
And seasonal businesses that depend on cold weather and snow are starting to see an impact.
Rodney Casselman, who operates his own small engine repair service, said only recently business bottomed out.
“I just finished up my last job yesterday,” he said. “Today I don’t have anything. I did 150 snowblowers from now going back to October.”
Casselman is also a member of the Glendalers, a local four-wheeling club, that cannot get out on the trails until the frost and/or snow blankets the area.
Long-range forecasts from The Weather Network suggest daytime temperatures will hover at, or slightly above, the freezing mark from now until Christmas Eve – which means Santa Claus might be grinding his sleigh across bare roofs when he motors through Cornwall.
The weather agency reported this week that there is no ice coverage on the Great Lakes at the moment, and a few weeks ago its winter forecast predicted we would ease into the coldest part of the year.
Part of the reason is an El Nino which is bringing with it an unusual jet stream that is allowing warm Pacific air to dominate the country, as opposed to frigid artic blasts.
It won’t last, though. More traditional bone-chilling tempratures and snow is expected as winter progresses.
