This winter's unseasonable warmth is having a strange effect on businesses.

"It's really been a funny winter," Mikhail Evgrasov, co-owner of Snappy Snow Services, told TheDailyPlanet.com.

Evgrasov said his snow removal service is on a contract basis, so regardless of the snowfall his company still gets paid.  This doesn't bode well for customers who often use the previous winter's snowfall as a yard stick on how much snow removal service they'll need for the current year.

Snow plows were suspiciously absent this past winter. (Courtesy: Faramarz Hashemi/Flickr)

According to a Canadian Press article, David Phillips, senior Environment Canada climatologist, said this winter is "the warmest and driest on record for 63 years."

Clear skies and milder weather is waking Canadians from hibernation and getting them to host parties and get them outside the house.

"Typically warm weather can have a positive impact on liquor sales," Chris Layton, LCBO media relations coordinator told TheDailyPlanet.com.

“If the weather continues to be unseasonably mild then we can probably predict an earlier uptake on a lot of products that traditionally increase more in the summer period such as beers, coolers and ready to drink products," he said.

According to Layton, "What we tend to see is in the winter period, if there's not a lot of snow that might impede or dissuade people from going out to purchase, that helps business and traffic into the stores."

The lack of snow also encourages people to get back on their bicycles.

“Business picked up everywhere,” Chantal Brault, controller of finances of Duke’s Cycle, told TheDailyPlanet.com.   “When it warms up people get outside.  If it snows tomorrow it’ll die down.”

Brault said winters are normally slow for bike sales, aside from hardcore bikers who continue to cycle throughout winter.

“People also do tune ups getting ready for the season,” she said.