Skiers Bummed By Lack of Snow in Michigan This Year

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So far this winter, snow has been fleeting in Michigan and temperatures are too warm for snow-making machines to be effective at making up the deficit.

That means the state’s 51 ski areas are all closed this week, according to GoSkiMichigan.

At this time last year, early-season snows meant ski resorts got a jump on the season. And in the winter of 2013-2014, the Polar Vortex and heavy snowfall meant ski resorts were open through March.

“Every year we are dealing with some issue or other,” Mickey MacWilliams, executive director of the Michigan Snowsports Industries, told the Detroit Free Press. “We hope to get the warm out of the way now so that by the day after Christmas, when the ski season really starts, we hope to be up and ready and rocking.”

Winter sports account for about one-third of Michigan’s $17.7 billion annual travel industry. Skiing alone accounts for about $4 billion a year in tourism dollars.

Michigan, second only two New York in the number of ski areas in the state, has 51 ski areas, with more than 260 lifts and about 1,000 runs, according to the association. No matter where you live in the state, you’re about a two-hour drive away from a ski area. A full list of ski resorts open on the upper and lower peninsulas, click here.

An El Nino weather pattern is making Michigan not so wintry this year, but MacWilliams isn’t too worried. Warm Decembers aren’t out of the ordinary, MacWilliams said.

“We are used to dealing with Mother Nature on our ski slopes,” she said. “Right now it is a little warm, but it will get cold.”

AccuWeather.com calls for the warm-weather pattern to continue through the month. The Weather Channel says the same.