Snow Business: Some Mountains in NY, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut in Decent Reservoir Situations Despite Drought

So what about the dry weather that made the last snowports season frustrating at best and has now carried over to a state of consternation as far as how the 2016-17 season might go? A survey this week among four resorts in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont showed that snowmaking reservoirs seem to be in good shape.

"We will have to make smart business decisions early in the season, but we're OK as far as water is concerned," Catamount Vice President Rich Edwards said.

Catamount straddles the New York-Massachusetts line in the Berkshire Mountains. Edwards said the snowmaking gear is ready to go and the crews are just waiting on temperatures. They should arrive in the form of the mid-to-low 20s in early December, Edwards said, which makes a mid-December opening a realistic target.

In central Vermont, Okemo had the temperatures and took advantage of it. Black Friday was white Friday with 11 trails and four lifts operating. Okemo even had a terrain park with 10 elements open.

Okemo Public Relations Director Bonnie MacPherson said the resort was operating at full reservoir capacity — 155 million gallons.

Wachusett Mountain in central Massachusetts opened on Friday after getting a three-day snowmaking window. It seems it was a smart move by ownership to debut the mountain’s new, powerful snowmaking system, which doubles its water pumping capacity and allows snowmakers to cover more terrain quickly as temperatures allow.

On Friday, Wachusett was operating four trails with three lifts on base depths ranging up to 12 inches.

Down through Worcester and about an hour west on Interstate-84, Mount Southington General Manager Jay Dougherty was playing the waiting game with the thermometer. Like Edwards, he was anticipating colder temperatures moving in for December.

And when Southingon get those temperatures — preferably in the low 20s at the warmest — crews have a full reservoir with 1 million gallons.

Most snowmaking ponds are designed to collect all run-off from the mountain itself, Dougherty said.

Photo Credit: Wachusett Mountain

Chris Dehnel is a Patch editor and a past-president and current executive secretary of the North American Snowports Journalists Association's Eastern Division. The Snow Business column will run regularly during the season.