Lack of snow having an impact on North Shore mountains

A weather system moving through the South Coast of B.C., forced local mountains to hit pause on the season.

Cypress, Seymour and Grouse mountains all posted advisories of inclement weather causing disruptions in service, like shortened hours and canceled ski lessons.

“It's definitely a slow start to the season,” said Simon Whitehead, communications manager at Mount Seymour, which was closed for the day.

“This is not what we like either. No one likes skiing more than people who work at ski resorts,” he said.

But he pointed out it’s still very early in the season, and remains optimistic plenty of snow is coming.

“I really believe that it's such a long season, that a write-off at the very, very start—it’s not fair,” he reasoned.

According to the Cypress snowfall report, as of Tuesday night, there have been zero centimetres of snow over the last week. The data shows the mountain has received 137 centimetres in total this season.

Grouse Mountain’s website shows similar conditions with zero centimetres of snow in 48 hours and only six centimetres over the last week, with a season total of 149 centimetres.

Despite several requests from CTV News, officials from neither Grouse nor Cypress mountains would comment on the season so far.

British Columbia is experiencing the effects of El Niño, which has brought drier and warmer weather than usual.

“Actually unusual for almost all North America,” said meteorologist Armel Castellan of Environment and Climate Change Canada.

“We’re definitely dealing with an extremely warm stretch leading up to Christmas time,” he said.

Snowforecast.com shows that all three mountains are expected to get snow on Friday.