SAM Magazine—Dover, Vt., Feb. 24, 2016—If one common thread can be found in reports from various regions of the country, it's that President's Week 2016 brought some interesting weather. In some places, lackluster visitation reflected miserable weather conditions; in others, weather was less of a factor.

In the East, several days of snow prior to the holiday weekend had lined things up nicely for a successful few days, but with high temperatures sitting well below zero Saturday and Sunday, resort's hopes for a gangbusters weekend froze up. However, in Vermont and New Hampshire the vacation week wasn't a total loss.

“Despite a week that started with freezing temperatures, ended with spring temps, and saw a snow-turns-to-rain storm in the middle, resorts [in New Hampshire] did OK,” said SkiNH executive director Jessyca Keeler. From the six member ski areas that reported, skier visits were up an average of 1.6 percent for the week compared to last year. But success varied, with some resorts up more than 20 percent, and some in the negative mid-teens, year-over-year.

Ski Vermont president Parker Reihle said, “The reports we've heard so far put the President's Week period at or near last year's very strong levels, and it's shaping up as probably the busiest week we've seen all season.”

At Sugarbush, Vt., favorable weather brought the best President's Day Monday the resort has had. But that came on the heels of a slow weekend due to the brutal cold. According to owner/president Win Smith, Saturday visitation was 50 percent of last year and Sunday, when it was -40º F at the summit, visits were 30 percent of last year.

In New York, rain plagued much of the eastern part of the state during the middle of the week and into the latter weekend, according to Ski Areas of New York president Scott Brandi. “Overall it would appear to be below expectations statewide, with some regions faring much better then others,” he said. Resorts in the western part of the state benefitted from lake effect snows throughout the week.

Despite Saturday of the holiday weekend being the coldest day of the season, all of the resorts in West Virginia reported strong skier visit numbers for the three-day weekend. Ski West Virginia's Joe Stevens said, “Lodging was basically 100 percent full and what really stood out was the school group business from states further south, since they haven't been affected by snow days this year and their holiday plans didn't have to be changed.”

The successful season in the Rockies continues, according to Patrick Byrne of Colorado Ski Country USA. Member ski areas that shared numbers enjoyed 10 to 20 percent increases in visitation over President's Day weekend the prior year.

Further west, a storm on Thursday that brought high winds to Park City, Utah, downed trees and caused widespread power outages. Mountain resorts were forced to shut down numerous lifts while the weather blew through the area.

And after a prolific start to the season, many areas in the Pacific Northwest saw a mixed bag of precipitation. “Unfortunately, the weather over President's weekend was wet (rain in the mountains) and remained that way well into the following week,” said PNSAA president John Gifford. “However, the snow returned at the end of the week and into the weekend,” he added. As expected, business levels followed the weather, with low visitation over the holiday weekend and through the start of the week, but a big uptick after the snow returned—with visitation then beating last year's numbers.

The slower-than-anticipated President's weekend couldn't dampen Gifford's spirits, though, because the region is still enjoying a successful winter, “Overall, the season has been excellent with visits well ahead of last year and slightly above the historical 3-year average,” he said.

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