WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – It’s no Blizzard of ‘22, but it’s certainly something.
“It’s cold and I like to play in the snow sometimes,” said Ryan MacCue who went sledding.
In Watertown, families enjoyed the freshly fallen snow, tackling Thompson Park’s hills atop sleds and at Dry Hill on skis.
“We were planning on going earlier this year, but we didn’t because there wasn’t any snow to ski on,” said Peter Jank.
January’s above-average temperatures made it tough for Dry Hill Ski Area to generate snow,, but this week’s snowfall and subsequent chilliness made for perfect conditions.
“Oh, the conditions are great. The snow is perfect. They got a lot of man-made with another 6 to 8 inches on top. It’s all packed in and it’s perfect,” said David Burns, Head Coach of the Dry Hill Ski Team.
Before Friday’s dusting, Dry Hill was making do with manmade snow, but according to some skiers, nothing beats the real deal.
“The normal snowfall is- I find it a little better to be on the slopes. But the generated snow is fine, it helps. Gets us through the year. Yeah, it’s nice,” said Jordon Matthews.
Although there was no shortage of winter fun, one event still didn’t happen: Snowtown USA. Event organizers postponed it until early February due to the warm weather we saw a couple of weeks ago. Now that the snow is back, they’re hoping it holds out until then.
“This isn’t enough snow to do what we needed to do and we would’ve needed the cold leading up to build the blocks for the structures. Now I’m pumped because we’re getting the snow, it’s cold enough. Dry Hill can make the snow, we can build the blocks and move forward,” said Jamie Benner-Clemons, Snowtown USA Board Member.
Snowtown USA is currently scheduled kick off on February 3rd as long as the city stays chilly.
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