For days on end in Sydney, N.S., and surrounding communities, the sun has been shining and the temperature has been sitting steady at about 20 C.
On Tuesday, there were three cruise ships docked with big crowds and plenty of energy in the city’s downtown.
"It's gorgeous weather,” said one cruise ship visitor.
"Love it. Thank you for being so kind and giving us this weather,” added another.
Across the street at Governor’s Restaurant and Pub, the patio was packed and people were lined up out the door to get a seat.
"This time last year, we're up at least 25 per cent over last year in the same period,” said owner and head chef Ardon Mofford.
Mofford says patio weather allows the restaurant to open up dozens of extra seats, and to be able to do that in October means bringing in more money than usual during the shoulder tourist season.
"It's a good revenue-booster to have the sunshine, and the temperatures we're having in the shoulder season are the same as the summer,” Mofford said. “So yeah, it's definitely a great boost."
For the operator of Boat Works zodiac tours in Sydney Harbour, the timing of the lovely fall weather couldn’t have been much better.
"We just started it about a month ago,” said Andrew Prossin. "The whole port here is just kind of thriving in this little bloom of nice weather before the fall sets in."
Of course, it wasn't always so nice. Much of the summer through Nova Scotia was wet and dreary.
With that in mind, people seem to agree the stretch of fabulous fall weather, and the business it is bringing, is well-deserved, and maybe overdue.
"We have been so lucky. We have been following the weather, we don't know, or the weather has been following us”, said another cruise ship passenger.
That luck might run out this weekend, with Tropical Storm Philippe expected to bring at least some unsettled weather to parts of the Maritimes.
However, for now, it appears more sunshine is expected in the coming days.
