Temperatures have dropped some 17° from Monday morning through 8am this morning. For example, the temp at Sugar yesterday morning at 8am was 48° and now this morning it is 31° and THAT has gotten the snowmakers at Sugar to firing the snowguns and they report that they will make snow as long as temperatures allow. Thus far this early season Sugar Mountain has made snow literally AT EVERY MOMENT that the temps allowed them to do so.
Sugar has dropped two trails from their offerings of yesterday. Today Sugar is riding on Upper and Lower Flying Mile (2 trails) with the yellow lift in operation. No other resort in North Carolina is making snow at this time.
Appalachian Ski Mountain is the only other ski area operating today in NC and they have three trails and two lifts going…as well as their Ice Skating Rink.
Since the news is slow this morning, we are combining this morning update on both SkiSoutheast.com and SkiNC.com. However, be sure to check out both websites for Photo of the Day submissions as they are different. Also we will be posting more "What’s New for 2007-2008" stories for more of the resorts later today, so check back often for more news from YOUR favorite ski areas.
SNOWSHOE IS MAKING SNOW THIS MORNING…
Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia is also making snow this morning. They are reporting 28° this morning (down from 48° just 24 hours ago) and they too dropped two trails from where they were yesterday. Laura Parquette reports, "We are offering 2 lifts and 6 trails today. Snowmaking will continue in some areas of the basin. The following slopes are open: Heisler Way, Whistlepunk, Skidder, Crosscut, Spruce Glades and Whiffletree. Open lifts: Skidder and Ballhooter."
Timberline is reporting 31° with a wind chill of 19° at 8:27am.
Wintergreen Resort in Virginia reports, "Warmer temps are expected to hang around through the day today with cooler air working its way back in overnight tonight and during the day tomorrow. Snowmaking temperatures are forecasted to return overnight Tuesday into Wednesday. As soon as temperatures permit, we plan to resume our snowmaking efforts."
THE WEATHER TO COOPERATE!?!?!
Meteorologist Matthew East of Carolina News 14 offered his weather update yesterday (check out the weather data on the front page) and we’re expecting WCNC Meteorologist Brad Panovich’s video update Wednesday – and we’re expecting them to put some tweaks on this assessment of the next several days – however one look at the forecast from now through the next 7 days or so…and it looks p-r-e-t-t-y good for snowmaking crews across the region to make snow AT LEAST during the night hours with some around the clock snowmaking a day or two within the forecast ahead.
That is GREAT news as we leave the last days of November and begin to look ahead to the "serious" portions of the ski season. If the forecast holds, some areas will see some of the natural snow variety going into next Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Stay tuned for updates on what to expect out of that! (The NC Mountains are looking like a bit of wet snow Monday evening…and areas further north are looking at snow Sunday night through Tuesday morning. Of course we’ll let the pros chime in and keep we snow lovers in check!)
Send your comments, photos and videos to: [email protected]