"The Morning Call Inc., Copyright 2002"
Date: FRIDAY, February 3, 1989
NO SNOW MEANS BAD WEATHER FOR THE POCONOS
by SEAN CONNOLLY, The Morning Call
The red neon sign outside the Pocono Fountain Motel along Route 611 was as bright as the beaming afternoon sun. It read: VACANCY.
As temperatures climbed into the 50s on the last day of January, motel manager Andy Patel said there seemed little chance he would soon fill his Mount Pocono motel.
Patel, as do many other business people in the Poconos, relies on skiers for much of his business in the winter.
This week's spring-like temperatures and a nearly snowless winter have meant bad news for many businesses in the area.
Patel, who runs the motel and restaurant, estimated that his business is down 50 percent this season from last.
''As you can see, there's nothing going on around here,'' Patel said as he looked across his empty parking lot.
Patel is not alone. In an area saturated with motels, restaurants and shops, no snow in the Poconos this winter has meant fewer skiers on the slopes and less cash in the register.
The skiers aren't the only ones staying away. The lack of snow has also made it impossible for cross-country skiing and snowmobiling, two sports that have gained popularity in recent years.
Joan Cooper, owner of the Swiftwater Inn, estimated that her restaurant is doing 30 percent less business this season than it did last year.
''I mean, if they're not up here, they can't come in to eat - and they're sure not up here,'' Cooper said.
Cooper, who has been in the restaurant business in the Poconos for 16 years, blamed the dearth of tourists on the lack of snow and one of the warmest winters in memory.
''It's just that we need snow - badly,'' she said.
In the Poconos, they call it the skier psychology. Basically, it means that most people don't get in the mood to ski if they don't see snow on the ground.
And skier psychology has kept a lot of tourists away from the Poconos this winter.
''I call it my backyard theory,'' said Tannersville motel owner Bill Schmidt, who said his business is down 10 percent this year.
''If the snow is not in their backyard, then it just doesn't exist,'' Schmidt said.
But there is plenty of snow at the area's 13 ski resorts - machine-made snow, that is. The problem is making skiers believe that the machine-made snow is just as good as the heaven-sent stuff.
''It's very difficult to convince the non-skier in Allentown when it's 50 to 60 degrees that there's snow in the Poconos,'' said Joan Montgomery, spokeswoman for Camelback Ski Area.
Montgomery said the experienced skiers know the resorts make tons of snow, and she said they have been turning out to ski no matter what the weather.
As temperatures soared into the 60s Wednesday afternoon, most skiers at Camelback seemed more content to spend the afternoon drinking beer on outside decks then skiing on the hills.
At the bottom of the slopes, skiers sloshed through dark slushy snow that had melted in the warm afternoon sun. But on the slopes, the machine-made snow seemed to hold up pretty well, and skiers appeared to have no trouble racing downhill.
Though the die-hard skiers are still around, Montgomery said the moderate or first-time skiers have mostly stayed home this warm winter, resulting in a drop in attendance.
Ski resorts have been advertising on the radio, trying to inform skiers of the bountiful machine-made snow on the slopes. But ski resort officials said the advertising has had limited success in motivating the masses to ski.
''Advertising is wonderful, but you could spend a bundle on advertising (and) you wouldn't reach the marginal skier,'' Montgomery said.
Ski resort officials said the attendance drop has not hurt them nearly as much as it has hurt smaller businesses, most of which depend on the resorts to bring in large numbers of people.
''With the big guys down, there's no turn-aways or big crowds,'' said James Tust, manager of Shawnee Mountain Ski Area.
Tust, who said his resort had a drop in attendance in January, said a lot of small businesses in the Poconos rely on an overflow of customers from the big resorts.
With the drop in attendance, Tust said, that overflow has turned into a trickle.
Bud Bonser, manager of Pocono Ski Rental Inc. near Camelback, said his business has felt the effect of this warm winter.
''You're talking at least 40 percent down in sales,'' he said.
Bonser said many ski equipment shops will hold on to their stock and try to sell it next year. That could pose a problem for ski equipment manufacturers, he said.
''In the hardware department,'' Bonser said, ''buying on the East Coast will be zilch next year.''
Clyde Hallett, who sells snowmobiles and snow removal equipment in Stroudsburg, has not been having a banner year either.
''It's been absolutely terrible - that's putting it mildly,'' Hallett said.
Hallett said his snowmobile sales are down 25-30 percent this year over last year, and he said last year was a poor year for sales.
Hallett said he has between 70 and 80 snowmobiles sitting in his showroom awaiting buyers. He said those buyers won't likely show up, not this late in the season.
''Unless we get an awful lot of snow, two or three snowstorms, it's not going to pick up,'' he said.
Though Hallett isn't optimistic about improving business this season, many people in the Poconos said it is not too late to have a decent year if the weather changes.
Charles Giannetta, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service at Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Airport, said there may be some relief soon.
Gianetta said temperatures will begin to fall Saturday with highs in the 20s and 30s and lows in the teens. He said there is also a chance of snow on Sunday and Monday.
But overall, Giannetta said, the weather doesn't look very promising for February to businesses depending on the ski trade.
''I think the outlook for the period is for temperatures to be somewhat above normal and for precipitation to be about normal,'' Giannetta said.
He said the normal precipitation for February is about three inches.
While business people complained about the warm weather, many Pocono visitors this week said they enjoyed the sunshine and early spring.
Other visitors said they were disappointed that there wasn't any natural snow for skiing.
''I'm not going to ski now - I want real snow,'' said Andrea Faghan of Quincy, Mass., who was honeymooning at The Summit Resort in Tannersville.
But her non-skier husband, Bob, sang another tune about the warm weather.
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"WEATHER BY GIANNETTA"