Winter sports enthusiasts will soon be able to rejoice: a snowstorm is expected to hit all of Quebec next week, according to Environment Canada.
The best of winter is ahead of us, says Jean-Philippe Begin, meteorologist at this federal agency. By the middle of next week, “the conditions will be in place for a winter storm,” he says. However, it is too early to determine the amount of snow that will fall in the different regions of Quebec.
Southern Quebec could also receive “a little rain” on this occasion, adds Gregory Yang, meteorologist at Environment Canada. However, this remains to be clarified later in the week, he said.
As for this week, two to five centimeters of snow are expected in southern and central Quebec overnight from Wednesday to Thursday. On the Bas-Saint-Laurent side, precipitation will fall especially during the day on Thursday, according to Mr. Begin. “It will already whiten the surfaces a little. »
A storm hoped for by many
The announcement of a winter storm next week delights many, like the owner of the Kanatha-Aki Center, Stéphane Denis. The latter offers, among other things, dog sled rides and ice fishing in Val-des-Lacs, in the Laurentians. “At the moment, the fact of not having our raw material which is snow is holding us back. Our activities are affected by 80%,” he explains to Duty.
Especially since the Holidays are a favorable occasion for the visit of international tourists. “These people will leave with the disappointment of not having experienced the activities of Canada. Often, these are dreams for them: people take a trip once a year and that’s it,” says Mr. Denis.
The latter adds that sled dogs who have been trained all fall see the fact of not going on an excursion “as a punishment”. “But the season is not over. So we still have, we hope, two or three months that will be there. »
Waiting for the snow
While many are impatient while waiting for the first snowflakes, others are taking advantage of the gloomy weather conditions to do some good business.
“Yes, it’s busier given the temperature,” says Sophie Bernier, of the Quillorama Frontenac bowling alley in Quebec. “We must refuse at least forty aisles per day at least. We are full, but [à cause de la météo], we are even fuller! »
“We had more people than last year,” also estimates Joffrey Mifsud, from the Laser Game Évolution center in Montreal. “The weather wasn’t nice, but there wasn’t a snowstorm, which would have stranded us. This year, we reached a sweet spot quite interesting with mediocre temperature, but people could still move around! »
On the side of the billiard room The gang on the corner, in Saint-Lambert, the holiday season was very busy, as is always the case at this time.
Several companies offering indoor activities contacted by The duty reported having a very busy holiday season. However, most were not able to isolate traffic due to bad weather from that due to end-of-year holidays.
Same observation for the Beaubien, du Parc and du Musée cinemas. “According to the programming director, there was no significant traffic in our cinemas, although it was a very busy day, especially at the Beaubien. On the other hand, we cannot say that it is much busier than usual,” communications advisor Èva Morin indicated by email.