Snow Hits Early and Hard

Lakewood, CO/ Lebanon, NH, Dec. 14, 2000–(SAM Magazine) The early snowfall and cold temperatures that have resulted in some of the best and earliest resort openings in years–and, in some cases, in history–have led to a swarm of recent and ahead-of-schedule openings across the Midwest, New York, lower New England and the Mid-Atlantic.

A host of Midwest and New York resorts planning on Christmas holiday openings either opened earlier this week or plan on opening this weekend as many found themselves the beneficiaries of two storm systems that blanketed parts of the region beginning last weekend.

According to SnoCountry Mountain Reports, this week was another busy one for the online snow-reporting group as it fielded a flurry of notices from resorts around the continent. New York ski areas were opening well ahead of last season’s numbers and Pennsylvania was also reporting good figures.

Unfortunately, a warming trend on Tuesday night led to some temporary closings in Connecticut and points south and west as rain replaced snow, but operators were confident of fast recoveries. The National Ski Areas Association reported that resorts were not just benefiting from Mother Nature, but that much of the snow was coming down dry in many parts of the west. Many Colorado resorts had close to two feet of snow in the last week while Salt Lake-region resorts reported settled bases as deep as five feet.