Rain dampening the profits of Calgary businesses that rely on warm weather

The rain in Calgary has caused businesses that rely on that warm summer weather to suffer this month.

So far, the city has already seen 90 per cent of the precipitation it would generally see in July.

For certain businesses in Calgary, the warm weather is what keeps things flowing.

“There’s been lots of rain and our business has certainly been down around $20,000 or so from last year at this time,” said Harry Daley, owner of Lazy Day Raft Rentals, on Tuesday.

“It’s definitely been affecting us. A lot of our staff are summer students so if the sun’s not shining, they’re not making money. So we just have to be patient and usually, we just wait it out.”

While a ton of rain may dampen business for some, it has helped keep wildfire numbers down and keep the smoke Calgary so often sees out of the city.

Businesses like Lazy Day Raft Rentals have an optimistic outlook for the final summer months.

“With any luck, in August, we’re hoping that the rain has benefitted us so we won’t have smoke in August. Last year, that was a big [impact on] us and we noticed our rentals went way down,” Daley said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "With any luck, in August, we're hoping that the rain has benefitted us so we won't have smoke in August. Last year, that was a big [impact on] us and we noticed our rentals went way down," Daley said.

There is one thing Calgarians can see on the bright side: we may have rain over longer periods but we aren’t getting a lot at one time, like what the city saw back in 2013.