New Hampshire ski areas hope long school vacations will help counteract the rain and unseasonably warm weather they're dealing with this week.

Jessyca Keller, executive director of Ski New Hampshire, says the recent rain isn't ideal, but next week should be big for ski areas that rely on Christmas vacation as major revenue drivers. She told the Concord Monitor that the Thanksgiving snowstorm and a series of shorter cold snaps have helped keep snowmaking operations steady.

With Christmas and New Year's Day falling on Thursdays, many school districts stretched vacation from before Christmas to Jan. 5. Ski areas hope that means an extra few days for skiing.

More than 2.5 million people visited New Hampshire resorts last winter.