A climate report comes as Metro Vancouver’s North Shore ski resorts were dealing with heavy rain on the slopes.
The report says the number of days below zero has been shrinking over the past decade across Canada. In B.C., between 2014 and 2023, Vancouver lost an average of 19 days a year where temperatures were above freezing compared with what the region would have had without climate change.
Nanaimo lost 18 days, the Cowichan Valley 17, while the Alberni-Clayoquot region and the Sunshine Coast each lost 15 days.
The report was published this week as Metro Vancouver’s North Shore ski resorts were dealing with some winter woes of their own following an atmospheric river.
But heavy rain Tuesday dampened expectations Wednesday.
Both Cypress Mountain and Mount Seymour ski resorts were open for skiing and snowboarding Wednesday but had messages on their websites saying some runs or chairs were closed to preserve the snowpack after the heavy rain.
Across Canada, climate change — due primarily to burning oil, coal and methane gas — is causing a significant increase in winter days above freezing, also called lost winter days, the report said. And researchers say it’s not just winter activities like skiing and skating that the country is losing but a healthy snowpack that delivers fresh water in the spring.
Twenty-five countries experienced between a week’s worth and two weeks’ worth of lost winter days annually, according to the report. These include France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and the U.K.
The hardest hit were Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which each experienced an average of at least three additional weeks’ worth of lost winter days.
For Canada, researchers found about 20 per cent of the regions analyzed had at least one additional week’s worth of winter days above freezing each year.
For example, Toronto lost 13 days, while Montreal lost six and Calgary — known for its cold winters — lost five days.
“The science is clear — climate change is increasing the number of winter days above freezing throughout large parts of Canada, which impacts everything from snowfall, to water supplies, to winter sports like skiing and pond hockey,” said Kristina Dahl, vice-president of science at Climate Central.
“Canadians will continue to experience warmer winters as long as oil and gas pollution continues to damage our shared climate.”
Canadian Olympian Philippe Marquis, coach of Canada’s freestyle ski team, called the pace of warming winters in Canada “alarming.”
“I’ve seen firsthand how athletes and sports organizations suffer, both in terms of economic impacts and logistical burdens. If we don’t accelerate our energy transition away from fossil fuels, we’re on the verge of losing important dollars for our national economy, but most importantly a tradition of beloved Canadian activities” he said in a statement released by Climate Central.