"This is an unusual event for us, so we're really hoping that the snow will come too and it's been a hardship," said Linda Sinks, vice-president of the Shaver Lake Chamber of Commerce. Sinks says local businesses have been hit hard due to the limited snowfall. "We've all done our little snow dances. We've all done our little praying to the snow gods to bring us the snow," said Sinks.
"It's been one of our worst years we've ever experienced for winter sales," said Greg Powell, owner of the Shaver Lake Sports shop. The shop is one business that's been desperately hoping for more snow. Rental sales for winter gear are down more than 60 percent this season as families look elsewhere to spend their winter vacation.
"It's been a little bit slow this year, it's been extremely slow. As you can see, we totally cater to snow play and there just hasn't been a lot of snow to play in," said Powell.
Families had to drive to higher elevations than normal to find a play area with some snow. "In some areas it's pretty compacted but once you start coming down, it starts getting better. Good enough for the kids," said Mauricio Jimenez-Castro of Visalia. He drove above 7,000 ft. to find a good amount of fresh powder to play in. But that wasn't the case last year. "You didn't have to come all this way up to find good snow. Now it's a completely different story," said Jimenez-Castro.
Businesses would still like to see some more snow on the ground -- especially in the lower elevations -- to attract more people to the Shaver Lake area.
