Winter recreation hurt by lack of snow

The snow that’s expected to fall on much of Iowa tonight will likely miss Dubuque, which is aggravating for the owners of eastern Iowa’s largest ski resort. Sundown Mountain would normally have been open for skiing and snowboarding a couple of weeks ago or at least by the first week in December. This year, there’s been no snow in the east and it’s been too warm to fire up the snowmaking machines. Sundown president Gene Gordon says he’s not concerned about his business, as he’s confident they’ll be able to open soon.While it seems like it’s been cold lately, Gordon says it hasn’t been cold enough to use the big flake-makers.Gordon doesn’t expect to open this weekend but is aiming for the weekend of the 22nd to start people swishing down the slopes.