According to Anthony Gigi, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, N.J., the cold Arctic air that blanketed the region last year is in short supply this year, offering short-term blasts but nothing like last winter, when the temperature remained at or below freezing nearly the entire season.
At 75, Joe Bell likes to ski at least three times per week.
Bell, of Forks Township, usually visits all the Pocono ski resorts, but often settles on Blue Mountain Ski Area in Lower Towamensing Township.
"They always make snow here," Bell said Thursday, as he clamped his ski boots and readied himself for another day on the slopes.
This was Bell's 21st visit of the season, which is down a bit from last year. The dropoff, he said, wasn't because of his age (he started skiing when he was 50 years old and once hiked 1,200 miles of the Appalachian Trail).
Instead, Bell says, the warmer-than-usual winter weather forced a late December start, and combined with an early February thaw, the weather has kept him and plenty of other skiers off the slopes and put a damper on what, thus far, has been a strange ski season.
"It's been a roller coaster ride here," said Robert Uguccioni, executive director of the Pocono Mountains Vacation Bureau. "One day it's snowing, the next day it's 50 degrees. It's been that kind of crazy winter so far."
According to Anthony Gigi, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, N.J., the cold Arctic air that blanketed the region last year is in short supply this year, offering short-term blasts but nothing like last winter, when the temperature remained at or below freezing nearly the entire season.
"This year we had the cold air the second half of January, but it takes a little while for it to redevelop," Gigi said. "So it's been very mild."
So mild that temperatures the first two weeks of February were 10 degrees above normal, thanks to a warm ridge along the eastern seaboard, said Gigi.
Combined with the lack of cold Canadian air, daytime temperatures rose above 50 degrees and produced plenty of rain. Add in the lingering effects of the early January ice storm, and the weather threw off ski resorts hoping to reach last year's record season, when Blue Mountain drew more than 200,000 skiing and snowboard visits, and Camelback Mountain in Tannersville recorded 300,000 visits.
"We've had our ups and downs," said Jim Tust of Shawnee Mountain near Marshalls Creek. "We had a good Christmas week but it hasn't been as strong as we'd like it to be."
The upcoming Presidents Day weekend forecast calls for overnight temperatures in the teens, which means plenty of snowmaking at all the Pocono resorts, including Camelback, Shawnee, Blue Mountain, Jack Frost/Big Boulder in Lake Harmony and Alpine Mountain in Analomink, and a chance to recoup those lost dollars for an industry that generates $250 million to the local economy.
"The local hotels are already booked, we have a base of 3 to 5 feet, and we're making more snow. So we can still certainly have a good year, especially if we hit these next 10 days," said Tust.
Dave Johnson, Camelback's assistant marketing manager, said if the weather remains colder as predicted, the holiday weekend and following week could save the season.
"Back in early January it wasn't looking so great," said Johnson. "But this coming week can be as big if not bigger than Christmas week."
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