If you guys were paying attention a bit more than a week ago we wrote that all of the ski areas would be circling December 3rd on their calendars and probably scribbling the word "snowmaking" above it. The reason is that for most of the North Carolina resorts the last 10 days or so has just been too "iffy" for them to pull the trigger on their snowmaking equipment. There HAVE been some windows of snowmaking opportunities and Appalachian in Blowing Rock, Cataloochee in Maggie Valley and Sugar Mountain in Banner Elk have literally taken advantage of nearly every opportunity and as such those three mountains have been able to remain open uninterrupted albeit with only two to three trails and thin coverage. (Cataloochee has been operating on their normal, early season opening schedule wherein they are only open on weekends, but even that schedule has been uninterrupted.)
It appears that those three made some snow last night (and Sugar still was as of 8am this morning) but there may be no more snowmaking from now until sometime on Monday when the temperatures are forecasted to dive down into the teens across the region. Monday IS December 3rd and it appears that is the date that Old Man Winter has marked as the day that "he" plans on coming in and sticking around for a bit.
According to WCNC’s Meteorologist Brad Panovich the FRIGID temperatures should stick around for at least 14 days! That is phenomenal news! So this should be the last weekend of marginal temps and limited trail openings for some time. You can COUNT ON every ski resort in the state of North Carolina to be blasting every available piece of snowmaking equipment to open up resorts that have yet to make snow…and to open more terrain on those like App, Cataloochee and Sugar – that have been fighting Mother Nature with all of their being.
SO KEEP YOUR CHIN UP ON THIS "MARGINAL" WEEKEND!
The excitement is building towards Monday’s arctic blast, but this weekend will be one of "two-halves". Today and Saturday should be pretty nice with temps in the upper 40s for highs and maybe a 27° overnight low tonight, and 30° Saturday night. Highs on Saturday should be near 50°. Sunday will bring in some rain and yucky conditions.
Appalachian has three trails open right now, Cataloochee has three and Sugar Mountain is offering four trails. That’s it for now, but thankfully the rest will be bombing the slopes on Monday!
Be sure to check out www.SkiSoutheast.com for MORE NEWS from around the region!
Until Next Time…Send your comments, photos and videos to: [email protected]
See You On The Slopes!