ManitobaA lack of snow is raising concerns for skiers in parts of Manitoba and fears about the impact of climate change on the future of winter activities.Snow and falling temperatures forecast for Winnipeg next weekDarren Bernhardt · CBC News · Posted: Nov 20, 2025 2:49 PM EST | Last Updated: 2 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 6 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Cross-country skiers are still waiting for snow in Winnipeg this year. (Darren Bernhardt/CBC)A lack of snow is raising concerns for skiers in parts of Manitoba and fears about the impact of climate change on the future of winter activities.Blizzard-like conditions have already slammed into other parts of Canada, and northern Manitoba has been tucked in for a couple of weeks, but the ground remains bare in Winterpeg and most of central and southern Manitoba as of Nov. 20. “November is definitely the month where we start to see snow accumulating, but that hasn’t happened yet for us,” said Environment Canada meteorologist Natalie Hassell.Snowfall typically begins toward the end of October in Winnipeg, she said.”While we did have a few flakes on a few days, they’ve definitely since melted.”The normal high for this time of year in Winnipeg is –4 C with an overnight low of –12 C. Temperatures have averaged out to 5 C this month and even hit 11 C last week.Karin McSherry says warming temperatures are shortening the season for winter activities and will ‘significantly reduce the number of places that you can cross-country ski.’ (Submitted by Karin McSherry)That’s left many cross-country and downhill ski groups high and dry.Twenty years ago, the Windsor Park Nordic Centre in Winnipeg averaged 107 days of skiing each snowy season, but over the last 10 years, that has shrunk to about 95 days, said Karin McSherry, executive director of the Cross Country Ski Association of Manitoba.”I think it’s not overstating it to be concerned” about the future of cross-country skiing in general, she said.This weekend, a provincial team was scheduled for an annual early snow training camp near Vernon, B.C., but it has been cancelled.The team is now heading to Lake Louise instead, “because that apparently is the only place out west that has snow at the moment,” McSherry said.While fake snow can be manufactured, “we can’t make snow until it gets below zero and stays there,” she said. “So we’re waiting for that to happen.”Windsor Park is fortunate to have been able to invest “a significant amount of money” over the past few years to be able to do that, but snow-making tech is not feasible for many small clubs in the province.”It’s going to significantly reduce the number of places that you can cross-country ski,” McSherry said.Similarly, Falcon Ridge Ski Slopes is investing in a snow-inducing product called Snomax in the hope it makes the season a little more reliable.”It’s a really neat, totally all-natural product that you can add to your water that you make snow with,” said Caleigh Christie, owner and general manager of Falcon Trails Resort and the ski slopes.”It allows you to make snow at warmer temperatures and makes a better snow that’s more manoeuvrable and pliable and workable by our snowcats. It lasts longer and it makes more.”Christie, who is nearly 40 and grew up around the hill when it was owned by her parents, said it’s never opened to skiiers prior to Christmas without machine-made snow.Falcon Ridge ski hill, where this dance hall and chalet are located, is investing in snow-making. (Darren Bernhardt/CBC)But what has changed is the variability of the seasonal conditions — when that first snowfall finally arrives and when temperatures become cold enough to make it stay, she said.Snomax is an investment but a necessary one to become resilient, Christie said. “We’re hoping that it allows us to get open earlier. If we can get a few days open earlier or maybe the season lasts a few more days longer, it’ll be worth it,” she said.”Climate change is real, there’s no doubt about that, and it’s a real problem for sure. That’s something we, as a world, need to address as soon as possible. In the meantime, we also have to keep on keeping on.”Despite the lateness of the present snow season, it’s far from the latest.The record high for Nov. 20 in Winnipeg is 15 C. That was set 135 years ago.”We certainly weren’t talking about climate change in 1890, nor in 1925, which is the next warmest Nov. 20, at 14.4 C,” Hassell said. The third warmest is a 10.6 C in 1908.”There are lots of different oscillations that occur in our oceans and atmosphere that play a role [in temperature],” Hassell said.But warmer days are happening more frequently, she said. The fourth and fifth warmest Nov. 20 came in 2009 and 2023.”Climate change and global warming are certainly part of the picture now.”A 2024 study commissioned by the International Olympic Committee has found the number of locations to host the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games is rapidly shrinking.It found just half of the 21 previous host cities would be suitable to host by the 2050s due to climate change.The three-month winter forecast, spanning from Oct. 31 until Jan. 31, also points to warmer-than-normal conditions across Canada, Hassell said, but there will almost certainly be cold stretches.One of those could come as soon as next week.”We will see a shift in the weather patterns. Temperatures will become much cooler starting on Monday night, and they stay quite cold compared to what we’ve seen up to now,” Hassell said.Environment Canada’s forecast calls for a 60 per cent chance of snow and a high of –5 C on Tuesday, with more snow and a high of –8 C on Wednesday.”If we do get precipitation, it should stick … because temperatures are not expected to be above zero after that any time soon,” Hassell said.McSherry, who’s tried to remain optimistic, welcomed the news.”That would be wonderful, and we’ll start making snow,” she said.ABOUT THE AUTHORDarren Bernhardt has been with CBC Manitoba since 2009 and specializes in offbeat and local history stories. He is the author of two bestselling books: The Lesser Known: A History of Oddities from the Heart of the Continent, and Prairie Oddities: Punkinhead, Peculiar Gravity and More Lesser Known Histories.With files from Gala Dionne, Marcy Markusa, Faith Fundal
Snow-less November in southern Manitoba alarming for those waiting for winter
