It's too darn warm for Michigan ski slopes to open

The snow gods have been kind to Michigan ski resorts over the last two years.

Not so far this year.

Every ski resort in the state is finding it too warm, with too little snow, to open or stay open. All ski resorts in the state except Ski Brule in Iron River are closed this week, according to GoSkiMichigan, which follows conditions at the state's 51 ski areas.

"Every year we are dealing with some issue or other. 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," says Mickey MacWilliams, executive director of the Michigan Snowsports Industries. What can people do to help make it snow?

"Maybe a snow dance would be good."

A few big resorts like Nub’s Nob and Boyne Highlands in Harbor Springs and Crystal Mountain in Thompsonville have already revved up their powerful snow-making capacity to temporarily give skiers some fun last weekend. They may reopen again this weekend.

See the Nubs Nob live trail cam here.

It's a marked contrast to 2013 and most of 2014, when frigid conditions allowed many Michigan ski resorts to open by Thanksgiving and stay open all the way until March.

This year, thanks to the weather pattern El Nino, even Big Powderhorn in Bessemer in the western Upper Peninsula reports zero snow accumulation. It lists a tentative opening Dec. 16. Ski Brule has been open since Nov. 22 — but is relying on mostly man-made snow to stay that way.

In the northern Lower Peninsula, Boyne Mountain in Boyne City was making snow and planned to reopen Friday. Shanty Creek in Bellaire, where it was 37 degrees today, reported it spent 85 hours snow-making, but it’s not open yet, “waiting on Mother Nature’s cooperation.”

Snow-making is really effective only at temperatures of 28 degrees or below.

The Cross Country Ski Headquarters in Higgins Lake was also closed, with its trail cam showing green grass and no snow.

Downstate, ski resorts Pine Knob, Mt. Brighton and Mt. Holly remain shuttered. Pine Knob reported it is “closed until winter weather returns.”

When will that happen? Next week should see much colder temperatures in the Upper Peninsula, between 27 and 35 degrees for a high, and mid-state should see highs in the upper 30s, according to the National Weather Service.

That should help those snow-making machines get going as the Christmas holidays near.

Downstate, however, temperatures will hit the 50s this week and the 40s next week.

Not to worry, says MacWilliams. Decembers can be warm in Michigan, and this year's pattern is not unexpected.

"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."

Contact Detroit Free Press Travel Writer Ellen Creager at ecreager@freepress.com, 313-222-6498.