Mt. Baker closes until more snow (maybe) comes

BELLINGHAM -- Iconic Northwest ski resort Mt. Baker has temporarily closed for the winter until more snow falls, the resort announced Sunday.

Mt. Baker near Bellingham has received a record-low snowfall this season, making daily operations and ski-able conditions an extreme challenge. Officials said the mountain is closed to skiing for now, but could reopen with six to 12 inches of snow.

"We are here today though to say that we are going to suspend operations TEMPORARILY until we get some more snow," mountain officials said.

The ski resort does have some historical context for closing, and this isn't the first time this has happened, officials said.

"When you go back for a historical context on this, it happens like this about every 15 years or so and in 2005 this same kind of thing happened," officials said. "This same week in 2005 is the week we suspended operations temporarily.  Then it really started to snow and our base total moved up to around 80 inches – and we look forward to that."

The lack of snow and visitors this season has been a hardship on both the resort and local businesses down the Mt. Baker Highway this season.

Mt. Baker is just one of the area ski resorts dealing with lack of snow this season. The Summit at Snoqualmie closed for operations in February, and others in the area are seeing record-low snowfall.