MILWAUKEE - A storm that dumped almost 2 feet of snow across the Midwest last week may have left commuters grumbling, but to the outdoor recreation industry the falling snowflakes look a lot like dollar signs.

The snow has had a huge impact on sales of snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles in southeastern Wisconsin, saleswoman Nikki Roth of A+ Power Sports in Elkhorn, in southeastern Wisconsin. "Last weekend, we sold out of pretty much all our used machines, and the new machines are going out the door at a rapid pace."

Milwaukee has had 23 inches of snow since Dec. 1, more than double the amount in the same period last year, according to the National Weather Service. That amount is also nearly four times the 30-year average calculated from 1971 to 2000.

Other states reported similar snow-ins. This month, Norfolk, Neb., received almost a foot of snow, compared to a 30-year average of 3.4 inches. Farther north in Minnesota, Duluth got 17 inches, twice its 30-year average.

At Crystal Mountain Resort, in the northwestern Michigan town of Thompsonville, 39 of the resort's 45 slopes were open last weekend. Spokesman Brian Lawson said that didn't happen last year until mid-January.

"These are great conditions, and it looks like those conditions are going to be sustained going into the holiday season," Lawson said. "One person who's been working here for 30 years says this is the best he's ever seen in all that time."

While most outdoor-recreation businesses are seeing green, many say it's too early to estimate the economic benefit of the early snow. They're relying on anecdotal evidence - packed ski slopes, well-traveled snowmobile trails, improved cross-country ski sales - to predict, with cautious optimism, booming business this winter.

Snow shovel sales generally are a good barometer of winter snow accumulations, said Chad Balkowitsch, general manager of a Bismarck, N.D., company that sells a wheeled shovel called the Dakota Snoblade.

Balkowitsch said U.S. sales of the $80 dozer-like implement are flat compared to last year.

"The snow just hasn't been there, at least in North Dakota," he said.

Meteorologists at the National Weather Service in Bismarck said snowfall in the eastern part of the state so far has been slightly above average, while the accumulation in western North Dakota is slightly below. But the weather service said most of North Dakota would get an additional 1 inch to 4 inches of snow by Saturday.

Tourism officials in a number of states say they won't have economic figures for winter tourism until the spring or later. But they, too, say the early signs are encouraging.

"Clearly, the sense we're getting is this will be a winter of great promise," said Kelli A. Trimble, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Tourism. "With the way it's started this year, we anticipate great growth (in spending) depending on how the rest of the season goes."

Indoors was the last place Paul Mews wanted to be this week. As the 23-year-old graduate student at Texas A&M boarded a plane to return to his Fort Wayne, Ind., home, he had visions of cross-country skiing dancing in his head.

"As soon as I saw snow in the forecast, I was thinking about skiing," Mews said after returning from an afternoon outing. "This is probably the best skiing conditions I remember in the last 10 years."

The Fort Wayne area has received more than 10 inches of snow this December, compared to a 30-year average of 4.7 inches.

Not everyone was glad to see snow. Oklahoma was hardest hit by the storm that struck the Midwest and Northeast last week. In Kansas, where six deaths were blamed on the storm, about 24,000 customers lost power through Tuesday.

"(The storm) was a good indication that it's going to be a good year, but Mother Nature's very unpredictable," said Roth, the snowmobile saleswoman. "So for now we'll just take what we got and enjoy it while it's here."