There's no business like snow business.

• Position: Ski resort operators pray for more snow

North Carolina ski operators are praying for a blast from the past this winter -- something close to the 60 or so inches of snow the western mountains are supposed to get in an average year. And weather experts say a big chill just might grip the Southeast.

"We've heard it from everyone," says Brad Moretz, assistant general manager of Appalachian Ski Mtn. Inc. in Blowing Rock. "I think it's at least great publicity."

Last year -- the third warm winter in a row -- Blowing Rock only got about 30 inches of snow, the least since 1974. And that shows up in the numbers: Some 90,000 came to Appalachian Ski in 1987-88. Last year, it drew only 55,000.

Statewide numbers have declined, too: 600,000 skiers in '87-88, compared with 390,000 in 1989-90, when they spent $55.8 million.

Hopes for a cold one are based on some abstruse weather science. Explains National Weather Service meteorologist Robert Livezey: "If in the equatorial Pacific we have occur this winter what is often referred to as a warm event," in...