Police in Ontario are warning that climate change is shortening the snowmobile season and making more and more dangerous trails for motorists across the province.

Ontario Provincial Police say 13 snowmobiles have died so far this season – which runs from November to April – with many falling through the ice. A total of 13 people died in the last snowmobile season, but police note that this season is not over yet.

Paul Beaton, OPP’s motorized snowmobile coordinator, said the cooler winters had shortened the snowmobile season and that was concerning.

“Maybe it shows an increase because we’ve had the same number of deaths in less time,” Beaton said in a telephone interview.

“We have had a very narrow season and we see it lessen year after year.”

The number of trails in Ontario that are unsafe for snowmobiles has increased as the season has shortened, he said

“This may be related to global warming,” Beaton said.

Milder winters have changed snowmobile routes that were once considered safe, he said.

“We don’t get great snow packs and consistent cold weather riders have to have solid trails, frozen waterways. The next thing you know, all the ice that’s possibly safe to ride on changes drastically,” he says.

“It can’t support the weight of you or your snowmobile so people have waded through the water and died.”

Some riders have ventured into remote, trailless areas as they seek thicker snow and ice, Beaton said, making the sport more dangerous.

Provincial police said 46 percent of the season’s fatal snowmobile cases were in northeastern Ontario and nearly all of those who died were males between the ages of 25 and 34 because they were more likely to engage in the hobby.

“It’s really important that people are aware of how the weather can affect safe driving,” Beaton said.

Pierre Challier, owner of a Quebec company that takes people on snowmobile expeditions in several areas, said his operation had to change how it works as weather patterns changed.

“It’s sometimes difficult to organize expeditions because, in some areas, we have no ice or less snow,” says Challier, owner of Nord Expé Inc.

Trail guides with Nord Expé prepare well in advance for expeditions, he says, recommending that all snowmobiles do the same.

“We need to have knowledge of all the weather during winter like when the ice forms, whether it builds with or without wind, it snows, it rains,” he said. “If there is any doubt, the guides drill holes everywhere… to see if there are any cracks, mud, thickness of ice.”

Beaton, from OPP, said snowmobiling could still offer an exhilarating sense of freedom but needed to be exercised with more care.

“We hope they have fun,” he said. “We hope they can come back and tell stories of happy times and not share stories of loss and sadness.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on March 22, 2023.