GREENVILLE – Squaw Mountain Resort was supposed to have its ski trails open for Thanksgiving. Temperatures so unseasonably warm that perennial flowers began to rebloom across the state blocked those plans.

Sugarloaf USA opened at Thanksgiving – but closed again just as quickly as balmy temperatures melted snow as fast as the snow guns could create it. Even high school ski teams are being forced to play indoor field hockey on gymnasium floors in an attempt to keep fit while waiting for practice slopes to become snow-covered.

A year after one of the best and most profitable skiing seasons in recent history – during which Maine’s slopes boasted between 36 and 54 inches of packed snow – Maine resorts and slopes were looking at Sunday’s dusting of snow as a harbinger of good times to come.

Only one Maine resort – Bethel’s Sunday River – was able to keep its snow guns operating ahead of an unusual winter thaw.

Cheryl Fullerton at Sugarloaf USA said simply “It’s been pretty sad.”

Fullerton said it takes three days of consistently cold weather and constant blowing and packing by the slopes’ snow guns and grounds staff to take bare ground and adequately turn it into a skiing surface. That simple weather requirement just hasn’t happened yet this winter.

She said that seasonal workers who had left their summer and fall jobs were sitting around twiddling their thumbs, desperate to get to work.

“And all the area businesses, from restaurants to gas stations, have all been affected by the lack of November and December business,” said Fullerton. Although Sugarloaf opened for Thanksgiving, the temperatures were too warm and they were forced to close several days later. “We have always thought mid-November was a fairly safe opening date,” said Fullerton.

“This is the first time we have opened at the regular time of the year and had to close,” she said. Trying to keep a sense of humor about the weather, Fullerton said, “We’ve chosen to look at this as a disappointing lull.”

Meanwhile, the lack of snow compounds the lack of precipitation, putting the year 2001 on track to be the driest in 107 years of record keeping, according to the Maine Drought Task Force. In late November, the task force reported that the state would need 8.5 inches of precipitation in a single week to solve the crisis.

Bob Lent, district chief of the U.S. Geological Service, which has 17 groundwater monitoring wells across the state, said current weather patterns “are unbelievable. We’re struggling to put it into a historical context. If not unprecedented, this is certainly extremely unusual.”

Lent said that winter precipitation is not something USGS usually worries about “except when it comes to spring runoff.”

The chief said 10 of the USGS wells can be monitored by satellite and of those 10, eight are at all-time record lows.

“It has usually bottomed out by now and the water level starts to rise in the winter,” said Lent.

Sunday River opened on Nov. 10 and thanks to some extremely aggressive snowmaking, remained open, boasting seven trails this weekend.

But it wasn’t until a cold front slowly moved through Maine this weekend that other slopes began making snow.

“We turned the guns on pre-dawn Friday,” said Fullerton. “Three trails were open Saturday morning.” But with temperatures predicted to rise again this coming week, there are no guarantees that the man-made snow will last.

Skiers and slope operators are hoping for a winter reminiscent of last year’s.

Fullerton said Sugarloaf always plans for a light customer base between Thanksgiving and Christmas. “Last season really whetted skiers’ appetites,” she said. “Our future reservations are high.”

She also said that local ski supply shops are doing a brisk business. “They can’t keep skis and ski clothing in the shops,” she said. “After last year, everybody is ready to ski.”