CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – Where’s the cold weather?

Mild and rainy weather has created obstacles for some New Hampshire ski areas, and officials are hoping lower temperatures arrive to allow them to open by Thanksgiving.

“We made a lot of snow two weekends ago,” said Tom Day of Waterville Valley. “Unfortunately, Mother Nature is a very tough boss.”

The ski area originally planned to open this weekend, but opening day has now been pushed back to Thanksgiving. The same happened at Bretton Woods. Workers there also got a jump-start on snowmaking, but the rainy weather is melting it away.

“Every year, it’s the same” said Chris Ellms of Bretton Woods. “We get excited about opening, and it’s a false start, and this is a little slower than last year.”

Bretton Woods was able to open on Nov. 13 last year. Wildcat Mountain opened even earlier last year after 4 feet of snow fell in one week in October.

Most ski areas said they’re keeping a close eye on the long-term forecast.

“There’s a lot of cold air in Canada right now,” Day said. “It’s just not able to push down here. That’s what we’re watching.”

“The good news is the weather does look a lot better in the long term, like Friday night, when we’ll see some cold come in,” Ellms said. “We’ll get some snowmaking in at that point, we hope.”

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Information from: WMUR-TV, http://www.thewmurchannel.com/index.html

AP-ES-11-13-06 1903EST