Not So Fast Skiers and Riders – Ski Season is STILL a few days away!

First Trax

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Mother Nature seems to be saying “not so fast skiers and snowboarders”! Temperatures were expected to be cold enough Saturday night to make snow, but the heavy moisture and cloud cover that has blanketed the region held temps just above the freezing mark and whether it was wet bulb readings or temperatures…most of the resorts were not able to make snow Saturday night. The only resort that is making “something” this morning seems to be Sugar Mountain. We checked on Snowshoe, Canaan and Timberline to see if maybe they were able to crank up the guns, but it doesn’t appear that they did either.

The only resort running the guns this Sunday morning??? Sugar Mountain. They began snowmaking Thursday at 3pm and while they’ve got some good coverage and base (about 7-10”) up top around the ¾ station – they have only been able to create some limited coverage at the bottom of their hill.

The weather IS looking favorable for ALL of the Southeast’s ski areas to make snow later this evening, but we need to clear up a little misinformation that is being reported. We received a couple of emails from some locals this morning saying that a local weather reporter was saying that numerous ski resorts would open on Monday. That is not going to happen so take a deep breath and relax just a bit longer.

We do have 1-4” of natural snow in the forecast for later Sunday and temperatures are expected to drop into my favorable snowmaking numbers later in the day. Snow is expected to continue for most of the day on Monday, and even more importantly for the ski resorts – the temperatures on Monday and Tuesday may allow for AROUND THE CLOCK snowmaking! While the ski resorts won’t open with 1-4” of natural snow…they CAN make a ton of manmade snow with 24-48 hours of uninterrupted snowmaking temps and we may see one or two try a Tuesday or Wednesday opening. What is MORE likely is that all of the ski areas will make snow at every opportunity and “protect” their snow until a Thanksgiving Day opening. Some will no doubt opt to hold off until the weekend.

That is where some more “borderline” snowmaking temps may be affecting any sustained resort opening plans. Highs Thursday through Saturday are expected to be in the upper 40s and low 50s which is about normal; however the low temps are expected to hover in the low 30s. With some luck they will be able to make snow each of those nights…but it is questionable right now as we look that far ahead.

So be patient! While Cataloochee has gotten all of our juices flowing (they’ve been open for the last three weekends in a row) and while Snowshoe keeps showing us all of that snow that they have waiting for a Thanksgiving Day opening…the 2006-2007 season is still a few days away.

Be sure to check the weather forecast posted in the middle column of the front page for detailed skier’s forecasts for ALL of the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic ski areas!

Editor’s Note: We will begin segregating our information posted on SkiNC and SkiSoutheast within the next few days. Since we are still in the pre-season mode, we are consolidating our updates until we have more resort openings and information to share.

Until Next Time…

THING COLD – THINK SNOW!

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Sugar Mountain began making snow Thursday evening and this photo was taken at the base of Sugar at 7pm on Friday – Check back for MORE photos to be po
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