In like a lamb

It's the first of March. Do you know where your winter is?

With the first official day of spring now less than 20 days away, it appears that the southwest coast may dodge winter's bullet.

That could be a good thing or a bad thing based on any number of factors including the length of your driveway, and what you have parked in your garage.

For the Town of Port aux Basques, the lack of snow has translated into definite savings. Town Manager Melvin Keeping has not crunched the numbers yet, but he is sure that the town has already saved thousands.

"If we get a 15- or 20-centimetre snow storm - that can cost you $10,000," he said.

After the winter of 2008-2009, when the town was getting storms of that nature on an almost weekly basis, Mr. Keeping said town council upped the snow clearing budget by $35,000.

The town has $303,000 budgeted for snow clearing in 2010. It has only used about a third of that money so far.

Mr. Keeping said council will decide what to do with any excess cash in the snow clearing budget at the end of the year. The town is not out of the woods yet as far as the budget is concerned. The budget covers January to December, meaning unusual storms this spring or late 2010 could eat into any current savings.

While the town has saved money, those in the snow removal business haven't done so well over the past few months.

Aiden Matthews of K and M Enterprises said this winter has been horrible for his snow removal business. He has four trucks with snowplows, three front-end loaders and a salt truck that have remained idle for most of the winter.

He said the winter has not been a total loss because many of his customers pay a flat monthly rate for snow clearing. However, he is losing cash on the extra calls he normally gets above and beyond the usual contract business.

His towing business has also taken a hit. Clear, dry roads mean fewer fender benders and accidents.

Mr. Matthews said he has one of his trucks up for sale, but he had planned on getting rid of it anyway. He hopes next winter will make up for this year.

"That's the gamble you take when you get into it," he said. "I'm OK this year. I'm not going to give it up because of one bad winter. If it happened too many winters you would have to look at giving it up."

While people may not have missed shoveling or winter driving, those who have learned to embrace winter sports found themselves travelling north to take part in the sports they love.

Clive Osmond is an avid cross country skier living in St. Andrew's. However this was the first year in many that his skis were not taken out of storage.

"I never put them on this year," said Mr. Osmond. "Every time it starts to get good for skiing, it rains."

Mr. Osmond got as far as grooming a trail with his snowmobile. But his work was foiled by wet weather.

He said he spoke to friends who skied on woods roads in O'Regan's where snowmobiles had packed down enough snow, but he didn't try skiing there. Other friends have been travelling to the cross country ski club in Stephenville.

"I've never seen a winter like that," he said. "Usually we see a bit of skiing."

Local El Nino

While some people are scared to even talk about the weather for fear of jinxing the string of good luck, meteorologists have a theory as to why the entire province has had an unusually warm winter.

Herb Thoms, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said the North Atlantic is experiencing a weather pattern comparable the famous El Nino weather pattern experienced in the Pacific Ocean.

The Atlantic equivalent is known as the northern oscillation. He said the oscillation deals with airflow and difference in barometric pressure between southern and northern latitudes.

Generally, low pressure systems near Iceland and high pressure systems near the Azores generate an oscillation that draws arctic air down into Eastern Canada.

This year the opposite has been the case. High pressure systems over Iceland and low pressure systems in the Azores have caused temperate air from the Atlantic to move into Newfoundland and Labrador.

"Winds have been out of the east. When the air is coming across all that ocean, it's a whole lot different than air coming out of the arctic," said Mr. Thoms.

While not balmy, the temperature has been slightly warmer than usual. Winter storms have been fewer and weaker. Mr. Thoms said the effects are more evident in Labrador.

Data shows that the first two months of this year were actually warmer than last year. The average mean temperature for Port aux Basques in January 2009 was minus 5.96 degrees. In 2010, the mean average for the month was over three degrees warmer, at minus 2.62 degrees.

For the first 15 days of February, Port aux Basques was 1.1 degree warmer in 2010 than in 2009.

reporter@gulfnews.ca