First Trax :: Daily News

IT IS PUKING SNOW AND I GOTTA GO!

12.29.12 07:20 AM

As has been the case all season long, the weather will be the TOP NEWS for today.

...a look at my window at Snowshoe. Yes it is snowing!

As I'm typing this from my unit in Highland House at Snowshoe Mountain I can look out of the patio doors and see that it is snowing harder than I have personally seen it snow anywhere this season!

I'm sure you guys will understand it if I am a little shorter than I have been with the morning updates lately as I feel a STRONG "responsibility" to go out and test the slopes this morning JUST to let you guys know the current status ;-)

The forecast is for some rain/snow/wind and highs in the upper 30s around Gatlinburg, & Cataloochee according to the National Weather Service. I'd expect that to be more on the snowy side of things. Wolf Ridge is seeing some wintry mix this morning with a forecast of the same with highs in the 36° range. That alone tells me that Cataloochee's forecasted high will be a bit colder than the NWS is reporting.

We are seeing 30° at Massanutten, but the NWS is showing it a bit milder than that and light rain. WE ARE CORRECT and they are not as the LIVE WEBCAM at http://www.resortcams.com/webcameras-massanutten.php is showing it as snowing right now. That will be the case with some borderline wintry mix through the day. It is snowing HARD at Massanutten right now as of 8am.

As mentioned earlier it is snowing very hard right now here at Snowshoe and I'm certain that is the case at Canaan Valley, Timberline, Winterplace and Wisp as well. Perhaps 6-9" of snow is forecasted for the WV and MD ski resorts and a noth less than that in the North Carolina High Country resorts of Beech Mountain, Appalachian and Sugar.

GO ENJOY and check back later for some photos and videos!

NC SKI RESORT NOTABLES:

Appalachian - 10 of 12 Trails & Ice Skating (Did not make snow)
Beech Mountain - 10 of 15 Trails & Ice Skating (Made & Making Snow)
Cataloochee - 11 of 17 Trails & Tubing (Made & Making Snow)
Sapphire Valley - 2 of 2 Trails & Tubing (Made Snow but not now)

Sugar Mountain - 6 of 12 Trails & Tubing & Ice Skating (Made & Making Snow)
Sugar dropped one open trail from yesterday. Not sure what that's about as they have very nice conditions and plenty of snow. Also on their website Sugar is reporting 2" of new snow in the last 24 hours and that is a typo as they forgot to pull that down from yesterday. No snow fell in North Carolina on Friday.

Wolf Ridge - NO REPORT as of 7:25am - Guessing they are standing with the same as on Friday when 4 of 22 trails were open and tubing.

VIRGINIA SKI RESORT NOTABLES:

Bryce Resort - 5 of 8 Trails & Tubing (Did not make snow)
Massanutten - 3 of 14 Trails & Tubing (Did not make snow)
Homestead - 2 of 10 Trails & Snowmobiling (Did not make snow)

Wintergreen - 5 of 26 Trails (Made snow overnight and as long as temps allow)

Wintergreen wrote, "Below freezing temperatures continue, allowing us to make snow and open additional terrain daily.  Today, we are adding Potato Patch and the Potato Patch Chairlift.  Tomorrow, we plan to open The Plunge Tubing Park and are trying hard to get The Highlands, Tyro and Sunrise open."

WEST VIRGINIA SKI RESORT NOTABLES:

Canaan Valley - OPENS FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS SEASON!
They open with 18 of 42 Trails & Ice Skating. Canaan received 1" of new snow and now has seen 60.8" on the season. Conditions will be GREAT for their opening day. Snow tubing open later in January.

Snowshoe Mountain - 32 of 60 Trails & Snow tubing, Snowmobiling & More. (Made snow and received another inch of snow to send them to 66.5" of snow on the season! Widowmaker is the new trail open today to send Snowshoe to 119 acres of terrain open.

Timberline Resort - 24 of 40 Trails & Tubing (1" of new snow takes them to 61" on the season and Tom Blanzy and his crew added another trail to their open terrain for your riding pleasure today. Conditions will be nothing short of awesome!

Winterplace Resort - 15 of 27 Trails & Tubing (Made snow and saw a TRACE of snow overnight with snow in the forecast all day today. Conditions will be awesome.)

Wisp Resort - 16 of 32 Trails, Ice Skating & tubing (Made and making snow) and saw 1" of new snow to take them to 65" on the season. Great conditions.

Ober Gatlinburg is holding at 4 of 9 Trails, Tubing and Ice Skating. Did not make snow.

Email me your thoughts and reactions at: mike@skisoutheast.com

FOLLOW US on Twitter for up-to-date news (like when it SNOWS) and for the best chances to WIN our FREE LIFT PASSES, VACATIONS, FREES SKIS, FREE SNOWBOARD and more! We're giving a LOT away this season and all you have to do is FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, Subscribe to our SkiMail list at the bottom of every page of the website OR Join Us on the SnoForum at http://www.skinorthcarolina.com/messageboard/

They're ALL FREE to Join, Subscribe or Follow Us and we promise to keep you well-informed. Share our website with your friends. We'd appreciate it a lot.