The Wrap: A brown Christmas?, reducing retail theft, newcomers and the winter blues, and three more years of El Nino

Mild temperatures and below-average snowfall have Winnipeggers facing the first Christmas without snow in over a quarter century.

The warm weather system can be attributed to El Nino, when the central Pacific Ocean has water temperatures that create a warm-weather pattern over the western half of Canada. The mild weather isn’t expected to vanish either.

The balmy forecast doesn’t come as welcome news to many business owners in Southern Manitoba that cater to winter sports enthusiasts.

And retailers say, without a visual cue of the upcoming season, some shoppers have held off on purchasing seasonal wares.

Winnipeg police said Monday that officers have made 151 arrests in connection with the Retail Theft Initiative since the start of November and received 3,745 reports of shoplifting (under $5,000) between January and August, a 44 per cent increase compared with the same eight-month period in 2022.

Some immigrants from warmer countries struggle more with winter blues and seasonal affective disorder. SAD is characterized by a depressed mood or an inability to enjoy things, accompanied by impaired concentration, poor sleep, lower energy levels, a change in appetite, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, and in the more severe cases, thoughts that life is not worth living.

Nino Niederreiter, the versatile 31-year-old forward signed a three-year contract extension with the Winnipeg Jets that locks up another valuable member of the club’s core.