GAYLORD -- Snowflakes swirled around Jim Bailey as he stood with his back to the wind and pumped $60 of gasoline into a truck with a snowmobile trailer in tow.
He and Dick Golightly, both of Jackson, were headed home after two days on the trails around Gaylord. They spent upwards of $500 for lodging, fuel and food.
"Usually, we go to the Upper Peninsula, but the cost of fuel is so doggone high, the closer, the better now," Golightly said.
The Jackson men are among an annual flock of winter tourists who seek out northern Lower Michigan -- spenders who hit the snowmobile trails and ski slopes when the snow flies. Many locals embrace this season's early snowfall and hope it attracts and retains more visitors.
"Isn't it wonderful? When it snows, it makes us look like we're in the right business," said Dick Fultz, owner of the Cross Country Ski Shop in Grayling.
Last winter brought some early snow, but a long warm spell around the holidays prompted struggles for snow-dependent businesses. But recent and plentiful snowfall keeps bringing new and repeat customers to his shop, Fultz said, where sales are up 20 percent over this time last year.
His isn't the only business with a flurry of activity.
Cars and trucks are rolling in and out of the service department at Gaylord Ford, where service manager Patti Schneider said a surge of business arrived with the snow. Their work orders doubled in recent days, she said.
Customers are in a rush for four-wheel drive repairs, new tires, heating adjustments, brake work and a lot of diesel engine repairs during cold weather. The additional work helps offset a slow year that's down nearly 30 percent from last year, Schneider said.
"All this work won't make up for it, but it will definitely help," she said.
Many hope the heavy regional snowfall is a sign of things to come amid yet another year undermined by a sluggish state economy.
"Hopefully, people will begin to see we're going to have winter again and can justify buying things like a snowmobile," said Dave Galmore, owner of Galmore's in East Jordan, which sells sleds and other recreational vehicles.
Heavy snowfall hasn't arrived until later in the winter for years, so Galmore said recent weather conditions have him "cautiously optimistic."
Snowmobile riders are booking rooms at the All Seasons Resort in Kalkaska, where they can ride to a trailhead from the parking lot.
"We are definitely encouraged by this early snowfall, especially if we can get some business in now. Once snowmobilers start, they get the itch and they want to keep coming back," said Becky Muma, general manager.
Brian Lawson of Crystal Mountain Resort in Thompsonville said downhill skiers are calling for reservations and the resort is making snow.
"When the flakes start falling, the phone starts ringing," he said. "As long as we keep those temperatures down through the holidays, we ought to have a pretty good start."
Other businesses across the region earn money moving the snow once it arrives.
C.B. Lowe is snowplow dispatcher for Elmer's Crane and Dozer, with accounts around Traverse City. He said 15 plow trucks ran every night last week, with more snow expected to keep crews busy.
"We need lots of snow -- keep it coming," Lowe said.
Traverse City already has 10.6 inches of snow recorded, while Gaylord received 40 inches.
Weather forecasts call for some potentially heavy snowstorms in coming weeks, said Kevin Sullivan, National Weather Service meteorologist. Snow-related businesses will have plenty of cooperative weather, he said.
"Right now it definitely looks like December will be a good month, probably right through the holidays," Sullivan said, with below-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation.
Sunday and Monday will bring some snowfall and temperatures likely will remain in the 20s.
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