HANOVER — When the Oak Hill Outdoor Center in Hanover first fired up its snow guns in March, it was a game-changing upgrade for local athletes, providing expanded on-snow training and racing opportunities close to home.

But when a recent mid-December cold snap created ideal snowmaking conditions, Oak Hill found its capacity limited by low water levels in Storrs Pond.

“It sounds crazy after last year’s deluges, but with the lack of rain this summer,” Oak Hill announced on its website on Dec. 3, “the water level in Storrs Pond is at our NH State permitted minimum withdrawal limit.” Snowmaking would be curtailed until rain or snowmelt raised the pond level, the announcement said.

From drought to deluge, December posed some unusual challenges to Twin State snowmakers. A dry summer and fall limited the water supply at some ski areas just when cold and dry mid-month conditions were ideal for making artificial snow.

In Enfield, Whaleback Mountain’s snowmaking team found itself in a similar situation to Oak Hill, unable to take full advantage of cold, dry weather because of a low water supply in its holding pond.

“We ran out of water for the first time since I have been at Whaleback,” Executive Director Jon Hunt said in a recent email.

The mountain has a holding pond fed by a mountain stream, Hunt said. Its snowmaking operations use about 12 million gallons of water in an average season.

“We were only able to pump approximately 700,000 gallons of water before the pond ran dry,” Hunt said.

This summer’s rainfall totals were about an inch below average, National Weather Service Meteorologist Jon Palmer said by phone on Monday from the service’s Gray, Maine office.

From September through November, moderate drought conditions took hold.

The Upper Valley “only got half of the precipitation we were supposed to get in a typical fall,” Palmer said. Where the region normally sees an average of 10.5 inches of autumn rainfall, this year it received 4.5 inches.

“The drought definitely affected us,” Arrowhead Recreation Area Board President Brian Zutter said by phone Monday.

Arrowhead, a Claremont nonprofit that relies entirely on volunteer staff, has just one snowmaking machine for its tubing and ski hills. Its water source is a well that sits partway up the hill. “In past years, the well has been able to keep up with us,” said Zutter, who is also a member of the Claremont City Council.

Last month, though, it turned to its backup source — the city’s water system. “We try to operate off the well,” Zutter said, because Arrowhead must pay for the city water. But he was pleased to be able to offer three of its four tubing lanes for its season-opening weekend on Dec. 28, which drew more than 200 people to the hill, he said.

Unfortunately for snowmakers and snowsports enthusiasts, the remedy for drought is rain. And snowmelt.

This past weekend delivered both.

“We’ve lost a lot of snow in the last 24 hours,” Hunt, at Whaleback, said Monday. He added that the snowmaking pond is full, “so I guess there is a positive to all of this.”

Arrowhead officials had planned to offer tubing as part of Claremont’s First Night celebration on Tuesday, but it lost too much snow to open.

Conditions have forced the Lebanon Outing Club at Storrs Hill to delay the hill’s opening date indefinitely.

Making snow and then losing it to rain and warm temperatures is common in the early season, Dartmouth Skiway General Manager Mark Adamczyk said by phone Monday.

“In these roller coaster types of events we’re able to make progress, but it’s two steps forward one step back,” he said.

The forecast seems to offer some hope for making up lost ground.

“Through much of January we are going to end up with colder and drier conditions, especially this upcoming weekend,” Palmer, the meteorologist, said.

Magic Mountain Snowmaking Manager Andrew Starr reckons there will be a window of ideal snowmaking temperatures through at least Jan. 14. Starr has been a snowmaker for 16 years, working at Killington and now Magic, which is located in the Windham County town of Londonderry, Vt.

“It’s going to be huge for all of the mountains,” he said.

Christina Dolan can be reached at cdolan@vnews.com or 603-727-3208.