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By Calli Hadler, Minnesota Public Radio News

Unprecedented warmth and record-low precipitation during the 2023-24 winter season left many Minnesota businesses that rely on snow and cold weather struggling to survive. With temperatures up to 10 degrees warmer than average, iconic winter activities faced cancellations, forcing businesses to adapt or risk financial ruin.

The warm temperatures throughout the season were bolstered by the lack of precipitation, according to the Minnesota DNR. Without the cover of snow, bare ground absorbs more sunlight, raising air temperatures and reinforcing the cycle of warming. The combination of lack of snow and warmer temperatures caused many major winter events in the state to be shortened, postponed or altered significantly.

Businesses and events that rely on winter weather such as Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge and White Wilderness Dogsled Tours in Ely and Mount Ski Gull in Nisswa are working to prepare for their upcoming seasons after a less-than-ideal experience last year.

“Last year was grim and devastating,” said Paul Schurke, founder and director of Wintergreen. “But we made the best of the season.”

Wintergreen offered full refunds to participants from last season, but Schurke said most people still wanted to come despite the lack of snow and didn’t end up taking the refund.

“We only did 43 percent of our normal business last year,” said Peter McClelland, owner of White Wilderness. “And in this business, you don’t profit until you get to 90% or that last little bit.”

The organization keeps track of their “days in forest,” which is a total derived from the number of tours they lead multiplied by the number of people on the tours. Two people on a three-day trip would equate to six days in forest. During the 2022-23 season, their days in forest totaled 827. Last season they counted just 217.

McClelland, who has been leading tours since 1999, said last season was the first time he’s experienced no dogsled tours occurring with the group from Christmas to New Years.

For Mount Ski Gull, which has opportunities for skiing, hiking and tubing, last year’s rainy December was the source of a lot of their hardships.

“It was definitely a challenging winter and that made snowmaking a lot harder,” said Mati Agre, the general manager of the business. “We lost a lot of the man-made snow we had made because of the rain.”

Prior to last year, Schurke said the northern Minnesota lodge, which has been leading dogsled tours for 45 years, had been “spoiled by the quality of winters.”

“The climate impact has definitely taken its toll; it’s just a fact of the matter,” Schurke said. “We used to have 16 weeks of sled time and now we’re down to 12-14 weeks with winter opportunities.”

To cope with the profit loss from last season, White Wilderness has been relying on a disaster relief loan, and they’ve put off upgrades to the business.

“We’ve tightened our belts the best that we can. We’ve put off buying equipment and putting up a shed, but there’s only so much you can do,” said McClelland. “There’s nowhere left to trim.”

Not only did the rain cause challenges for Mount Ski Gull, Agre said the season was difficult from a marketing perspective.

“If there is no snow in people’s backyard they think ‘why would I want to go skiing?’ But we did have man-made snow, so we had to work harder to bring them out,” he said.

Looking ahead and following the warm autumn, a weak La Niña event is likely this winter, according to MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner. A La Niña would favor a colder winter compared to last year, bringing with it better weather for businesses that rely on these conditions.

Despite last year’s challenges, all three businesses remain hopeful. Wintergreen is fully booked earlier than ever, and Mount Ski Gull is set to open Dec. 9 with upgraded snowmaking systems in place.

“We’re optimistic,” Schurke said. “If the ground is white, the dogs are ready to go.”