Warm Winter Forces Area Ski Slopes To Fire Up The Snow Machines

TANNERSVILLE, PA (CBSNewYork) -- Area ski slopes have been desperate for snow, as the warm weather has put a damper on the ski season.

On Friday night, some resorts were taking matters into their own hands and using man-made snow until the real stuff falls.

Two hours west of Manhattan the snow guns of winter were spraying icy mist into the mountain air.

As CBS2's Lou Young reported, the noise was deafening at close range, but it was music to holiday visitors who had envisioned a more seasonable landscape.

"On January first it should snow. It is now, and I love it," Cori Baley said.

That's how weary winter-worshipers are these days. Once, they would have complained about a lack of natural snow. Now, anything will do.

For some it comes cruelly late in the game.

"Heartbreaking not to be able to ski these slopes because there's no snow around, and now I have to go home," Dei Lyman said.

It takes days of work to make a skiable surface, and machines have been fired three times. Each time the warm winter weather has undone their work. Now, snowmakers said they're feeling it.

"Now that we've got a good forecast, we're really excited to be opening," Jeff Lococo said.

Upstate New York slopes have also been pushing the stuff out, and none too soon for a ski-team member from Brewster High School.

"It's kind of been pretty ridiculous and finally after praying and doing so many snow dances we have finally got snow here," Joseph DePauola said.

If you dream of sliding down a local slope, be comforted that the fake flakes are falling as you sleep.