With mild temps, little snow and lots of rain, RI's only ski area plowed ahead

Tracy Hartman watches the weather so closely her friends often ask her for the forecast.

As general manager of Yawgoo Valley Ski Area & Water Park, Hartman must keep a close watch, because her livelihood depends on it. Unfortunately, this winter and for several recent winters, Hartman hasn't liked what she's seen.

Rhode Island just had its fourth-warmest winter on record, with little snow and, worse for a ski area, a lot of rain, but Yawgoo managed to stay open for much of the winter, thanks to its snow-making machines and a lot of hard, opportunistic work by staff, according to Hartman.

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"We know how to deal with these types of winters because we always have," she said.

"The season was shorter than a normal season for us," she said. "We had to close several days due to rain and above normal temperatures in January. When we were open, we kept to our normal operating schedule."

Yawgoo is Rhode Island's only ski area and one of only a few in Southern New England. Operating a ski area anywhere in Southern New England would present a big challenge, but Yawgoo's Exeter location is only about 10 miles from Narragansett Beach and the relatively warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean, which often dash snow lovers' dreams.

"I don't know if we're the southernmost ski area (in Southern New England), but I know we're the closest to the ocean," Hartman said.

Hartman was pleased that Yawgoo could complete all of its scheduled ski lessons this winter, an important component of the business. Yawgoo opened in 1965. Hartman's father, Max de Wardener, became head of the 'learn to ski' program in 1968, and he bought the business in 1980 to ensure he'd keep control of the busy school.

In a 2017 interview, de Wardener said the ski area would attract about 100,000 in its strongest years. Yawgoo again came close to those numbers in 2015 and 2019, according to Hartman, but she estimates the ski area drew about 25,000 skiers, snowboarders and tubers this winter.

"The last couple of years have been a little slower," she said.

Yawgoo is a unique slice of Rhode Island that holds a warm place in the hearts of many residents in the way Benny's and McCoy Stadium once did. Thousands of Rhode Islanders have learned to ski at Yawgoo before tackling the bigger mountains of Northern New England.

Many of Yawgoo's employees learned to ski there. Others who took their first runs at Yawgoo now bring their grandchildren for lessons. "It gives you the perspective that it's a special place," Hartman says.

But the winters haven't always been kind to Yawgoo, especially recently. Four of the last ten winters have been among the ten warmest on record for Rhode Island. The winter of 2022-2023 was the fourth-warmest, with an average temperature of 35.9 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

The warm air helped produce more rain and less snow in December, January and February. Just 10.9 inches of snow fell at T.F. Green International Airport in Warwick all winter, and most of that, 6 inches, fell in February. (The most complete numbers available from the National Weather Service are measurements from the airport, about 20 miles north of Yawgoo, so this story is using those numbers.)

Meanwhile, more than 14 inches of rain fell, including 6.76 inches in January. "I remember walking the hill in January thinking, 'What are we going to do now?" Hartman said.

Snow-making is key for Yawgoo, and fortunately the equipment has become more efficient over the years, Hartman said, but they can't make snow if the air is too moist or the temperature is above 28 degrees. That meant staff worked through Christmas Day, one of the coldest days of the winter, to produce enough snow to open the ski spot.

Another cold spell in February helped Yawgoo keep the winter going. "The colder and drier it is, the more you can make," Hartman said. "During that cold snap, we were making piles 10 to 15 feet deep. We left the gun in one spot for two days."

"If the wind is right, and it's cold enough, we can bury this place in a few days," she said.

"The largest crowds this winter were right after the two cold blasts" in late December, early February and the storm that brought 6 inches on Feb. 28, she said.

Through the years, the staff has learned to get creative with its snow-making. They make extra piles of snow when it's cold and hold them in reserve "to push out when it gets warmer," Hartman said.

Yawgoo also adapted by developing a water park in the 1990s and adding a summer camp in 2016. Skiing is still the main business, but the water park and camp help bridge the time between winters.

Now preparing for the summer season, it won't be long before Hartman will be looking for warm, sunny days to keep the campers happy. And then she will look toward another winter hoping for cold.

"I think we're gluttons for punishment," she said, "because we keep doing this every year expecting a different outcome."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Yawgoo Ski Area made the most of this winter's little cold and snow