After a year of unusual temperatures and conditions across Canada, the country shows no sign of leaving behind its 2006 reputation as wacky weather land.

Ottawa, Calgary and Montreal — all cities known for their frigid winters — were scheduled to hit balmy highs of 8, 7 and 6 C, respectively, on the first day of 2007.

Meanwhile, it wasn't supposed to get warmer than -9 C in Regina and Saskatoon; and Winnipeg residents spent New Year's Day buried in snow that winter sports enthusiasts in Eastern Canada have been wishing for all winter.

It was below freezing in the Atlantic provinces, but snowmobilers such as Allison McLennan of Woodstock, N.B., were still waiting for their fair share of white winter bounty.

"Right now I guess it's a lot of wait and see," said McLennan, who usually snowmobiles two or three times a week. "People are anxious to get out on the trails."

In much of Ontario and Quebec, including warm and sunny Ottawa, showers of melted snow dripped off tens of thousands of rooftops and balconies, splashing into icy puddles and translucent patches of receding slush.

Ski hill executive Bob Sudermann said the weather has been challenging.

"It definitely has been difficult just dealing with the inconsistent weather, when you have winter for a few days followed by spring," said the president and co-owner of Camp Fortune and Mont Ste-Marie in western Quebec, north of Ottawa. "Although it's a beautiful day today, it's quite warm. … There are no people here [at Camp Fortune ski hill]."

Battling record snow

Sudermann said the conditions in the East have been a sharp contrast to weather at his Mount Norquay ski hill in Banff, Alta., where there has been "record amounts of natural snow."

Residents in much of southern Manitoba, including Winnipeg, are recovering from a snowstorm that dumped 25 centimetres across the region on Sunday.

The town of Beausejour, northeast of Winnipeg, was hardest hit with about 35 centimetres.

But as Manitobans continued to clean up Monday, Environment Canada predicted daytime highs above 0 C by Wednesday — about 10 degrees milder than normal for this time of year.

2007 in B.C. begins with more '06 weather

Meanwhile, in British Columbia, which topped Environment Canada's 2006 list of the Top 10 weather stories with its wet, excessively dry and storm-battering weather, the outlook for Monday called for more rain and snow. Environment Canada issued rainfall warnings for the southern part of the province and snowfall warnings for the B.C. Interior.

Rainfall of up to 100 millimetres is forecast for Tuesday for Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and Howe Sound, while as much as 180 millimetres are predicted for West Vancouver Island.

As well, heavy snow warnings are in effect for the West Columbia, North Thompson and Arrow Lake areas, with predicted accumulations of 20 to 40 centimetres.

Adding to the weather misery are wind warnings of up to 90 kilometres an hour for the Sunshine Coast, most of Vancouver Island, and for the central and northern B.C. coasts.

Relentless rain last January in the province set a record, with 283.6 millimetres.

With files from the Canadian Press