The lack of flurries this winter is tough on some businesses.
A year ago today, Norge Ski Club in Fox River Grove was cold, icy and bustling with people---several inches of snow grazed its hills.
With a milder winter, there are patches of greenery and the lack of snow comes with challenges.
"In late December we had all of our hills up and running except for one and then the weather got warm," said Scott Smith the operation manager for the Norge Ski Club.
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He said the warmer weather stopped training at Norge for junior jumpers that will be competing next weekend.
"All of our kids and our programs literally got to jump one evening and then it got warm," he said, "So we are coming up in four weeks without being able to make snow or ski our kids have had to travel in order to ski."
At Villa Olivia in Barlett, you can also see patches of green grass from the melting of the snow. There are segments of man made snow which is hard to keep because of the warmer temperatures.
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"To make snow here the temperature has to be below 27 degrees," said Rita Fletcher, the executive director of the Barlett Park District,"Like last night it was about 30 degrees humidity and we can’t make snow with that."
Fletcher said less snow means less revenue.
"People have to pay to come in to go skiing, snowboarding, tubing take lessons. That's all money coming in. We have no money coming in when we are closed," she said.
Fletcher said she has never seen a winter without enough snow like this from the end of December to January.
"We had last year over 60,000 people that came to me skiing and snowboarding here this year. So far we have had less than 7,500," said Fletcher.
Snow America Inc. owner John Geroulis has also felt the weight of the lack of snow. He owns a snow plowing company.
"It definitely hurts, especially being born and raised in Chicago. We are used to these heavy winters," he said.
He said he was expecting a lot more snow than what we have had.
"I was expecting at least five or six snowfalls. By now, we have only had one, which was December 22. We only had two inches," he said.
All three venues are hoping for more snow.
"Hopefully things are going to change a little bit. I know a lot of Chicageons don’t like the snow but for us we love it," said Geroulis.
"Right now I’d settle for 3 inches (of snow) and be a happy person," said Fletcher.
"It looks like it’s going to get cold here early next week so we can start to make snow so we have enough for our event next week," said Smith.
They plan on the cold weather to continue their normal operations- Norge Ski Club said they would still compete next weekend and Villa Olivia said they hope to open by Thursday.
