Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp. blamed unseasonably warm weather in December for disappointing same-store sales that tumbled 9.4 percent in the fourth quarter and 1.2 percent for the year.

The El Segundo-based company in a statement cited “extraordinarily dry and warm weather conditions in most of the company’s major markets” as having a “significant negative effect on cold weather and snow-related products.”

The “extraordinarily challenging” December sales were hit by a drop of nearly 50 percent in the company’s core winter product categories because of the warm weather, said Steven Miller, Big 5’s chief executive and president.

Big 5, whose markets include California, Utah and Colorado, saw its fourth-quarter net sales fall 8.7 percent to $243.2 million year over year. Full-year net sales slipped 1 percent to just over $1 billion.

Full-year and fourth-quarter financial reports are expected by the end of February. Big 5 said it expects to report a quarterly per-share loss of between 8 cents and 13 cents, significantly down from the previous guidance of earnings between 16 cents to 28 cents a share. Full-year earnings are expected to be in the range of 52 cents to 57 cents a share, down from 2016’s earnings of 77 cents a share.

Real estate reporter Ciaran McEvoy can be reached at [email protected]