Let it snow: Skiers left snowless by California drought In April, toward the end of the last ski season, the Sierra Nevada snowpack sank to 18 per cent of its usual level, a record low. Last year the number of visitors to the Golden State's 27 main ski resorts was 40 per cent below normal, and the industry is braced for another hit. At the Donner Ski Ranch resort, located at an elevation of 7,000ft in the Sierra Nevada, the six chairlifts are yet to be switched on this season and the 500 acres of runs are bare. Before the series of dry winters that began in 2011/12 owners Marshall and Janet Tuttle sometimes opened to the public as early as Oct 31, and closed as late as July 10. But last season it didn't snow until February. "We don't have artificial snow cannons so it's what Mother Nature deals you," said Mr Tuttle. This is a labour of love for us and the heartbreak is we didn't earn any money last year to throw back into it. We wanted to redo the lodge. We have 145 staff who work seasonally and having no snow affects them greatly. Our (piste) groomers were delivered today and we're all set to go. We've just got to hope all hell breaks loose up above ... but we'll see. A sudden deluge seems unlikely. The National Weather Service said there was currently "no snow at all below basically 8,000 feet" in the Sierra Nevada, and not much above that. Measurements taken on Donner Summit, near the Tuttles' resort, show that last season there was only 44 per cent of the usual expected snowfall. The year before, the figure was 54 per cent. The year before that it was 81 per cent. Last year was the second worst season ever, according to records that go back a century. With higher temperatures more of the precipitation that does occur is falling as rain rather than snow, even at high altitudes. By contrast, two weeks ago, an early winter storm of historic proportions dumped six feet of snow in 24 hours on Buffalo in the eastern United States. It was the largest amount ever recorded to have fallen in the US in one day. But there is no sign of anything remotely similar in the west of the country. That is not just a problem for skiiers. Snow in the Sierra Nevada is also relied on to fill reservoirs when it melts. It provides one third of the water supply for California's 38 million people and is their largest single source of fresh water. The vanishing of the snow has been a major contributor to water shortages that have left California Governor Jerry Brown urging all citizens, including those in Los Angeles and San Francisco, to only flush their toilets once a day. The question now preoccupying many of those whose businesses depend on snow is whether the recent meager falls are an extended blip, or part of a long term change to the climate which will see the white stuff become ever rarer and more precious. To some the decline seems inexorable toward balmy winters when skis will be traded in for mountain bikes and hiking boots. According to research by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography warmer temperatures could leave the average annual snowpack a third smaller by 2050, and two thirds smaller by 2100. Others believe monster snowfalls will return and blame a weather phenomenon called the "Ridiculously Resilient Ridge" - a temporary area of lingering high pressure off the Pacific coast that has diverted storms north away from California in recent years. Vaune Dillman, who owns a brewery and restaurant near the Mount Shasta ski resort in northern California, said: "I don't have a crystal ball but things are looking pretty bleak right now. What I see is there are more deer around here than I've ever seen in 40 years. They're coming down from the mountains, because there's no water any more, and sticking close to houses. In September a forest fire ripped through the parched area where Mr Dillman lives damaging 150 homes and destroying the church. He said: "It was so dry everything was just ready for the picking, 250-year-old trees are burned to stumps." During last year's snow-starved ski season he made only $161 on the traditionally busy day of the Super Bowl. "Nobody showed up," he said. I'm not going to put frost on a cake that doesn't taste good, business is down considerably. There is no snow. On the eve of this season large resorts that have artificial snow making equipment, like Squaw Valley and Heavenly, have a smattering of runs open. Snow Summit is doing perhaps the best, having invested tens of millions of dollars in its snow creation operation. The cannons run 24 hours a day when the air temperature is low enough for them to work, and hydrants placed every 50ft carpet the runs. The resort buys precious water for the machines from nearby Big Bear Lake and sucks up thousands of gallons through two pipes. "We're in a basin so 50 to 60 per cent of the water runs back into the lake when the snow melts," said Mr Riddle. We are just kind of borrowing it. As for long term climate change, he is confident the real snow will return. "We take a bigger picture view of the drought," he said. In the last 120 years we know there have been periods that are very dry, and very wet. This is cyclical. The law of averages is working in our favour.