Warm for the holidays

It’s shaping up to be a holly, jolly — and mild — Christmas.

The forecast calls for a high of 0 C on Christmas Day and -1 C on Boxing Day: which would be among Winnipeg’s top five warmest Christmases on record.

“It’s quite an accomplishment to get in the top five of the record,” said Stephen Berg, meteorologist for Environment and Climate Change Canada. He said the weather this year is “still quite, quite warm.”

The record for Christmas Day is 5.4 C, which was set in 1999; and 4.5 C for Boxing Day, which was set in 2011.

Berg said the forecast temps are 13 to 14 degrees above the normal.

Last year, the mercury reached -7.1 C on Christmas Day, and -4.1 C on Boxing Day.

At The Forks, the small skating rink under the canopy, and the ice-skating trail towards the CN Stage and upper trails are open. However, the Nestaweya River Trail is closed.

“At this point, we are in a wait-and-see situation,” said Zach Peters, communications manager at The Forks.

He said the river trail is on schedule to open during the standard window — sometime in January.

“We are hopeful to open the river trail sometime in the new year,” he said.

Peters said the warm weather will draw more people to The Forks, which he likened to Winnipeg’s “back, and front, yard.”

Roy Laham, who owns Iceland Skate Rentals at The Forks, said the opening of the river trail ice-skating will attract crowds.

“The crowd triples when the river is open,” the 80-year-old said. He says the business gets a lot of people from out of town and tourists when the river is open.

At Assiniboine Park, the Riley Family Duck Pond is ready for skaters.