GRANITE PEAK- Warm weather forces ski hills to close early

Granite Peak Ski Area closed Sunday, three weeks earlier than planned, but the destination and business owners who depend on it for some of their sales said the winter season still was a modest success. Granite Peak was supposed to be open through Easter weekend, but temperatures in the 70s have melted much of the man-made snow that, along with natural snow, brought skiers and snowboarders to the mountain starting Thanksgiving weekend. One snowboarding event was canceled because of the early closure, and Granite Peak will also miss out on its last bump in traffic from students and their families during spring break. The Wausau region had received 38 inches of snow as of Monday. That’s more than a foot less than the 52-inch average by mid-March and far below the 64 inches that had fallen by this time last year.