Lack Of Holiday Snow Disappoints Visitors, Sierra Businesses

EMIGRANT GAP (CBS13) — Edith Atienza is visiting all the way from Florida to get a taste of a real winter, but there was no winter wonderland waiting for her in the Sierra.

"Twenty-eight hundred miles and no snow," she lamented.

Edith didn't cancel her plane flight, but people who would otherwise drive to the snow this holiday season are staying away.

"Zero," was Karen Medders' response at Cisco Grove Campgrounds when asked how many customers had walked in the doors on Thursday.

Business at the RV park, like the snow, is no where to be found. Medders told CBS13 in past years they could make up to $5,000 a day just on parking!

"For an industry that waits for snow and the two-week Christmas vacation, to not have snow during the Christmas holiday is hurting everyone up and down the summit," she said.

Nearby at the Kingvale tubing area, they're not waiting for Mother Nature. They're making their own snow, but it's not easy or cheap. Two people take turns using the snow machine, which runs 24 hours a day, and it costs up to $600 a day to make it.

But for some visitors to the mountains, it's the only snow they've seen.

"It's rough because I have two weeks off and I haven't been able to ski," said Jonathan Eagan of Martinez.

In fact, this December is shaping up to be one of the driest on record.