Can the ski season REALLY almost be over?

Things are finally winding down to a halt around the Southeast Ski Resorts.  It has been a wild ride (wilder than most seasons weather-wise).  We’ll try to put it into words sometime next week, but for now I’ll just say that we had a GREAT start, a prolonged thaw with well timed winter blasts of cold and snow, and we’re seeing a finish that has many ski areas close with near mid-season conditions.  Appalachian closed Sunday with what was arguably the best conditions in the Southeast and Mid Atlantic on Sunday.

Snowshoe Mountain has what is unquestionably the best conditions in the region today, after 24” of snow in the last week or so!  That’s TWO FEET of snow – people!  Yesterday we posted the NWS forecast that was predicting rain for Snowshoe on Tuesday, but we took one look at their temps and suggested in Tuesday morning’s update that they might see an all snow event…and that is precisely what happened.  Snowshoe Mountain in “Forever Wild” West Virginia picked up ANOTHER 5” of snow (not the TRACE) that is being reported by the SSAA, and that additional accumulation now puts them at a normal annual snowfall tally of 179” on the season.  The region north of Virginia certainly had the lion’s share of the more consistent weather this winter as WISP in Maryland EXCEEDED their annual snowfall by more than 18”!  Of course, Cataloochee in Maggie Valley, North Carolina did as well!  They normally see about 40” of snow annually and they have seen 67” of snow this season!  That’s more than TWO FEET more than normal. (That should quiet many who are emailing about how “poor” this past winter was in terms of snowfall.)

There were several areas that did not see normal snowfall, such as Ski Beech which normally sees about 80” of snow per winter.  Last season they received 84” and this winter saw just 66” – which coincidently is 18” sub par – the same amount that WISP went over!  So THAT’S WHERE ALL THAT BLOWING SNOW WENT!!!

Anyway, we still have a few more days of ski season left and conditions are VERY nice at Snowshoe, and we’ll term the conditions as just one notch less than that (we’ll say “NICE”) at Timberline and Wisp.

The weather for this weekend is for more Spring-like conditions with highs in the mid 50s this weekend in West Virginia and Maryland and close to the mid 60s around Wintergreen and Cataloochee.  There’s even a chance for some spring-like “April Showers” but not such that will mess up a day.  So keep your plans and enjoy the fun planned for the weekend.

Check the archives (last few days) as we have detailed the plans for this weekend numerous times lately.  Today, we’re just yapping! Those of us in the “snow biz” are all kind of lamenting the fact that it’s almost over.  Andrea Smith of Snowshoe just wrote me moments ago saying, “ Snowshoe Mountain received five inches of snowfall from 6 a.m. on Wednesday, March 28th to 6:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 29th. We’re all kind of sad that it’s coming to an end with all the snow we’ve had.”

I responded and she wrote back, “You know with all the work it’s been this season I am sad we are closing this weekend.  I guess no one is going to be open next week huh?”

I wrote back, “Not unless you guys do it.”

Like many of us, she replied moments later that she was hoping to “check out some other places.”

It IS coming to an end my friends. If you want to make a few more turns…your options are dwindling!

Until Next Time…

Be sure to email photos, snow reports and comments to: [email protected]

Visit www.SkiSoutheast.com  and www.HighCountryWeather.com  for more information.