NORTH CREEK - The diehards couldn't be kept away. Skiiers and snowboarders  navigated mud and grass during Thursday's closing day at Gore Mountain.

"Just got to watch out for the bare spots and it's still great skiing. It's just a couple weeks too early," said Wally Horst of Skaneateles, while skiing with his 6-year-old son Jack.

Thanks to record high temperatures, there is more brown than white here this spring, which makes it difficult to make any green.

"The bottom line certainly suffered," said Kurt Wisell, assistant general manager of Gore Mountain.

To put things into perspective, March 22 is the earliest Gore Mountain has closed since they started making snow in the early 1980s. They usually stay open well into April.

But it's not usually 80 degrees.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - The scant snowfall this winter will continue to affect Northeast waterways this spring as the feeble snowpack melts away.          

Less runoff means less of a chance of rivers and streams swelling their banks. That's good news for the flood-weary region but bad news for rafting companies that depend on rushing waters. It also could affect reservoir levels.          

Not only was this the fourth-warmest winter on record in the 48 contiguous states, but it was drier than average too. The Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University reports below-average snow cover this winter at tracking stations from Maine to West Virginia.

Climatologists say there is little to no snow on the ground in the Northeast to slowly melt into the spring soil. Though torrential rains could still get the waters raging.