By JAIME STUDD

For the Express

While this winter’s unseasonably mild temperatures and lack of wintry precipitation have had many in the region cheering, area businesses depending upon the annual influx of outdoor enthusiasts are being left out in the cold.

“Every business hurts in the area, from gas stations, to hotels, to restaurants, I mean you name it, across the board,” said Chris Lanzi, co-owner of Lanzi’s on the Lake in Mayfield. “We definitely rely on that. The bank doesn’t say, you know, ‘You have a terrible winter, you don’t have to pay the mortgage.’”

The recent below-freezing temperatures and apparent arrival of more wintry conditions notwithstanding, Lanzi remains one of several area business owners who have eagerly awaited winter on the Great Sacandaga Lake.

“There’s just nothing anywhere and of course it affects us very drastically in the wintertime because that’s a big part of our business,” he said.

Northampton Town Supervisor Linda Kemper said there has been a noticeable lack of traffic both in and around the lake.

“It’s definitely impacting the businesses and it’s kind of late in the year now. They’ve already lost all of December,” said Kemper. “It’s just sad because with the economy in the shape that it’s in, businesses really need the tourists to bring in those revenues this winter and, boy, it’s not looking good.

“Snowmobiles, fishing, skiing — all of the outdoor recreation is definitely hurting because winter recreation depends on snow. Without snow, there’s really not a whole heckuva lot to do,” said Kemper. “People aren’t gonna travel long distances to come to no snow. They wanna play. If they’re gonna come here, they want something worth coming for.”

However, last week’s moderate snowfall, coupled with the ensuing frigid temperatures, has many optimistic about salvaging the remainder of the winter season.

“It’s finally froze right now,” said Lanzi. “There’s approximately six inches of ice across the lake, right now. It should be good from here on out. We’re hoping, that’s for sure.”

Unfortunately, there is no undoing the damage that has already been done.

At Lapland Lake Nordic Vacation Center, in Benson, which features winter lodging and cross-country ski trails, owner Ann Hirvonen said the tide has turned just in the nick of time.

“It is a later start than we normally have, and, naturally, that impacted our Christmas sales and business, but we received a foot of snow last Thursday and Friday — just in time for the holiday weekend,” said Hirvonen. “So, we are fully operational and having a grand time. It’s been wonderful.”

Hirvonen said there really is no way to make up for the loss of revenue experienced from a lack of snow over the Christmas holiday, which is normally one of the busiest weeks for the popular winter resort.

“I don’t think that that really happens in this industry,” said Hirvonen. “Christmas week is Christmas week and you can’t really make it up, but we do have a lot of pent- up demand, and so numbers are strong, and that’s good.”

With a fresh layer of snow on the ground and freezing temperatures sustaining the pack, Hirvonen said she is confident that the remainder of the winter season will be a productive, and possibly extended, one.

“This weekend is big, so we’re really glad to have captured this one,” said Hirvonen. “It would have been difficult to have lost two holidays in a row.

“I would not be surprised to see us go well into April this year,” she added. “They’ve been forecasting that that was going to be the likely scenario this year and the good thing about that is Easter is early this year, so we’re hoping that we capture some of that Easter-week business. Rather than people going south, maybe they’ll stay home and enjoy some spring skiing.”

According to Joe Villani, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Albany, an extended winter season may not just be wishful thinking on Hirvonen’s part.

“Analogous to this year, we had this occur in the winter of 2006 and 2007,” said Villani, citing similarly mild temperatures and a lack of snowfall through mid-January. “Then it was like somebody flipped a switch and from late January and through much of the spring, we had an abundance of cold weather and snowfall. That’s not to say that’s going to happen this year, but it can happen.”

Villani said a similar situation also occurred in the winter of 1999 to 2000. That winter ended with an April snowfall.

“There is a slight correlation with having a such a mild early half of the winter, late fall into early winter, with kind of paying for it the last half of the winter into spring,” he said.

Villani said this winter’s temperatures, thus far, have averaged approximately five degrees above normal for the months of November and December, and though there has been no lack of precipitation, it has mostly come in the form of rain.

A unique weather pattern, said Villani, is to blame for this winter’s mild temperatures.

“What’s happening is every time we get a storm passing to our west across the great lakes, which typically has occurred this winter, the air flows counterclockwise around low pressure,” said Villani. “So, if the storm is to our west, we’re getting a southerly flow. So we really have been pumping in a lot of warm, certainly relatively mild air, for this time of year.

“Usually, patterns where you experience above normal temperatures, they usually break down after three, or four, or five weeks,” he added. “It can happen, but it’s just somewhat unusual to see it last so long into a winter season.”

Unfortunately for winter-weather enthusiasts, and the lake community dependent upon their revenue, Villani said he does not see a significant break in that pattern any time in the near future.

“This past weekend, we had a really true frigid of frigid, arctic air over us, so that will certainly help build some ice, but we’re going to get a very quick warm-up again happening Monday night into Tuesday,” said Villani. “Basically, what’s happening is, we’re not able to sustain the cold air because the wind flow and the storm track are more from a southerly direction and the same thing’s gonna happen this week.”

That’s not good news for Tammi Miller, president of the Southern Adirondack Snowmobile Club, in Mayfield.

“It’s (the weather) put us back probably a good month to a half month as far as riding,” said Miller. “Last year, we were riding at least a week or two before this.”

Miller said her club normally runs approximately 500 members strong during the winter months, but she estimates that the rosters are currently reading half of that.

“Our membership, obviously, isn’t where we’d like it,” she said.

Despite Villani’s forecast, Miller said she remains hopeful that some of the season can still be salvaged.

“We have our poker run planned for Feb. 18 and, hopefully, we’ll have enough ice and enough snow, if mother nature cooperates and it doesn’t rain,” she said. “Ideally, we’d like to be out earlier, but it just hasn’t happened.”

Joe Sullivan, co-chairman of the Sacandaga Protection Committee, and snowmobile enthusiast, said he has personally witnessed the drastic impact this season’s mild temperatures and lack of significant snowfall has already had on the lake community and its businesses.

“There’s been no or very little snowmobile traffic on the lake so far,” said Sullivan. “The way I’ve always looked at it, you’ve got about 12 weekends for these businesses in the wintertime to make money, and they’ve lost two of them already.

Sullivan said, unlike the skiers, snowmobilers definitely have a finite amount of time in which they can practice their craft, especially around the lake.

“It never really can extend much past the first or second weekend in March because once the lake starts to thaw, you can’t go out there,” said Sullivan.

For Terri Swierzowski, acting president of the Fulton County Chamber of Commerce, the most important measure of the winter tourism season has yet to come, but is certainly in jeopardy.

“We’re especially concerned about our fourth annual Walleye Tournament, which is happening on the 28th of January,” said Swierzowski.

According to Swierzowski, approximately 1,500 fishing enthusiasts representing nearly seven states and nearly every county in the state of New York have registered for the tournament thus far.

“We sold out in record time this year,” said Swierzowski. “We really want them to come for that.”

Swierzowski said a determination will be made on Jan. 21 about whether the tournament will take place. The thickness of the ice will be measured at Sinclair Point because it’s considered to be a good indicator of what the thickness will be on the remainder of the lake.

“There are people already ice fishing out there, but certainly we need sufficient ice to accommodate 1,500 fisherman,” she added.

Even if the tournament is canceled, Swierzowski said the approximately $8,000 in cash, all of the door prizes and a four-wheeler and snowmobile will still be given away at Lanzi’s on the Lake on the day of the tournament. Winners will be drawn through a raffle.

“We can’t keep it, it’s really the fishing enthusiasts’ money and prizes,” said Swierzowski.

Though the party will go on regardless of the lake conditions, Swierzowski said that the area would definitely benefit more if the tournament itself was able to take place.

“From a tourism perspective, we really want there to be enough ice,” said Swierzowski. “People will come up and practice fishing the lake a week ahead of time, people will come up to stay a few days before, people will come up and buy gas here and they’ll buy all their fishing needs here. So, we’re hoping that it takes place.”

Swierzowski said that she is unsure exactly how much the mild weather has affected the winter tourism season in the county, though she is certain it has.

“Visitor center numbers are our best indicators,” she said. “Honestly, I haven’t looked at them in the last few weeks, but I’m sure they’re down.”