Snowless in Lebanon: Abnormally dry winter killing ski resorts, crops

The mountains north of Beirut, usually a snowy winter playground for skiers and other tourists, are brown, muddy and completely empty this season.

Hotel rooms lie vacant and winter sports rental shops are idle, with the lack of snow deterring even the keenest visitors. An unseasonably warm and dry winter – the mildest in decades by most accounts – has also endangered the harvest of vineyards which export prize-winning Lebanese wines around the world.