Six more weeks of winter?

Punxsutawney Phil, Pennsylvania’s notorious groundhog has brought the ski world some exciting news hopefully a new wave of stoke for the second half of the season. At 7:25 a.m. Feburary 2nd Phil saw his shadow predicting six more weeks of winter.
Most skiers have been stuck starting out their windows or a their computer screens wondering where the snow has been and when it will arrive. Across the Lower 48 there were 583 heat records set in the month of January. Bare mountain conditions from the weather have driven down lift ticket and ski gear sales, and have pushed up the cost of snowmaking significantly for the beginning of the season.
So why the lack of snow? Much of it is due to the low pressure system in the arctic pulling the storms northward of the United States. This has however left places such as Alaska buried in snow. As of January second, south-central Alaska has already received 272 inches of snow and is on track to break the previous record from the 1980-1990 season.
Despite the high temperatures and lack of snow earlier in the season. The upcoming months seem to be promising for U.S. skiers. The La Nina conditions of the past season are starting to form again. Cooler Pacific Ocean temperatures close to the equator will pull the storm track down over the northern U.S. This will leave much of the North and Mid west areas with a new heap of snow and better conditions. As for the Northeast, last season the storms were