Snow is in the Forecast ALL WEEK for Several Ski Areas in the Southeast and Mid Atlantic!

We’re just hopping around this morning to put a little equality in our morning post. Typically we run from North to South which inevitably places Wisp first on our reports. Today we’re going to lead with one of the little guys.

(We’d start with Sapphire Valley (the smallest of the Southeast ski areas) but they are closed until January 18th.)

Ober Gatlinburg in Tennessee is reporting 38° this morning, so no snowmaking occured. Kathy Doyle writes, "Snowmaking temps are on the way!" – Can’t you see the "FINALLY" expression in that post? Ober has 4 trails open today and in case you have not been to the Smoky Mountain ski area, they have one of the more unique top of the mountain resorts that includes a huge shopping center with Olympic sized ice skating rink, numerous shops and eateries and all of it is serviced by an aerial tram that will take you down to the downtown Gatlinburg area that is basically Myrtle Beach in the mountains. You owe it to yourself to pay them a visit. They also have an old-style mountain coaster that is pretty cool as well.

Let’s do Bryce Resort next. They are open from 9am til 9pm with the same 7 trails as were open yesterday. They did not make snow although according to the temps up there it IS borderline at 30°. Basye is expected lows tonight in the 28° range and then colder all week with highs in the mid to upper 30s and lows in the teens and low 20s so there will be lots of snowmaking all week.

Since we’re so close and in Virginia, let’s kick over to Massanutten. They are reporting 27° and say that they made snow on a few trails overnight. They have 6 trails open for today and the forecast for the Shenandoah National Park areas is for a chance of light rain this afternoon and highs in the upper 30s. They could see a little light snow accummulation tonght and then a sunny Monday with highs in the upper 30s. Monday night looks cold with lows in the mid 20s.

Continuing with our smaller to larger reporting today…we’ll drop down into North Carolina for a bit and visit a couple of ski areas there.

Appalachian Ski Mountain reported a low of 28° last night and is currently at 32° but did not (and is not) making snow. We’ll try to get up with Drew Stanley or Brad Moretz as to why. It’s pretty foggy there this morning and it could be that temps were actually just out of range to pull the trigger. It could also be that the temperatures are going to be so perfect for snowmaking beginning tonight through the entire week that they decided to wait for more optimal temps. A couple of people have written us that their new "mini Hoover Dam" reservoir was pretty low on water. So we’ll let you know asap.

App is looking pretty good today with groomed conditions and 8 trails open. Their terrain parks and outdoor ice skating are open as well.

About 20 minutes away is Hawksnest.

Hawksnest Resort is showing 29° as the low last night but there is no report of snowmaking. They are EVEN BETTER prepared for snowmaking that should take place beginning tonight as Justin Grimes fired us an email on Saturday showing four new "Polecat Fan Guns" that Hawksnest just took delivery on. Justin said that those four guns make it NINE new fan guns that Hawksnest has purchased this season.

Look for them to crank up and blast the slopes beginning tonight. Hawksnest is reporting the same 6 trails plus tubing open for Sunday.

Cataloochee Ski Area LOOKS like they might still be making snow but that camera of theirs makes it hard to discern anything on other than perfectly sunny days. The view looks fogged or snowed over this morning, but it’s 31° and last night Tammy Brown wrote that they intended on making snow so we’ll assume they did. They are open for day skiing only today with 5 trails and tubing. Tammy wanted us to remind you to, "Join the Cat Crew on Sunday afternoons here for the Cataloochee Recreational Race Series. Individuals race against the clock for the best of two runs. Top three challengers in both men’s and womens’ age divisions win cool stuff. You must be 7 years of age or older to participate. Racing is from 1pm-3pm with awards ceremony at 4pm, so dust off those racing skills and test your luck. The Cat is where it’s at on Sunday afternoon’s Recreational Race Series. Call the ski area for more information."

We’ll go to Wolf ridge next. Some will no doubt ask "Don’t they have 20 trails? Why wouldn’t Beech come next?" That is because even though Wolf has 20 trails – they do them on 82 acres of terrain as compared to Ski Beech’s 95 acres and Sugar Mountain’s 115 acres. Hey this isn’t a scientific study…I’m just mixing things up!

Wolf Ridge is reporting 37° this am and no signs of snowmaking there from overnight. They are providing snow tubing, terrain park fun and the three trails open from either side of the mountain for a total of six trails.

We’ll go to Ski Beech next. Some will ask, "Since when did Ski Beech become one of the smaller ski areas?" Well they’re not exactly small, but they are more of a "mid tier" ski area now with others adding trails.

Ski Beech is making snow as of this post (8:46am) and they made snow most of the night. (and for the last two nights!) They reported 31° at 6:30am and we’re seeing 28.3° on our weather station at Beech. Snowmaking will continue as long as temps allow. The high today at Beech Mountain should barely reach 39° so there’s a chance that snowmaking will continue most of the morning and then again for the rest of the next week. Look for more terrain to open quickly and improving conditions as well.

Light Snow is in the forecast for today and maybe 2-3" by Monday-Tuesday. Beech has 5 trails open and ice skating as well.

For the best temperature readings for Beech Mountain nowadays visit the Beech Mountain weather station online by clicking here> Beech Mountain Weather 

Sugar Mountain reported a low of 24° at their summit overnight and it is 27° up there as of this 9am post and snowmaking IS happening at Sugar for the second day in a row. Their slope conditions report is identical to Saturday as they offer 9 trails, tubing and ice skating.

With 125 acres of 25 trails, Wintergreen Resort will go next. Sara Lovejoy exclaimed "MAKING SNOW! It feels great to be making snow again and the forecast of some natural snow overnight tonight is icing on the cake. Today we will be skiing and riding on Eagles Swoop, Upper and Lower Dobie, the Lower Cross trail, Tequila, Upper and Lower Sunrise and in the Discovery Ridge Learning Area with 4 lifts running. For those guests that want to tube, The Plunge will be open today from 10am – 9pm. The Slide will not operate this weekend but we will make snow in The Slide this coming week and have it open for next weekend. Tubing tickets are on sale now over the web and in person."

Wintergreen is riding on 8 slopes today and reported 25° this morning. She added, "When we have the opportunity to make snow we will focus a lot of our effort on improving the slopes that are currently open but will also work hard to open more terrain. A winter weather pattern is finally taking charge allowing for regular snowmaking conditions. This should allow us to get more trails open for the MLK Holiday next weekend."

Okay I’m tired of resort hopping so let’s get the rest covered from North to South…kind of.

Wisp Resort in Maryland is the northernmost ski area that we cover so they come first.

Wisp is reporting light snow and 30° right now with 24 trails open, tubing, terrain parks, mountain coaster and let’s throw in the kitchen sink, because they do have a lot to do there in Garrett County! Look for snow tonight through Tuesday night up there! They could see about 4-5" through that period. Snowmaking will crank up tonight as well.

The West Virginia resorts also comprise the largest resorts in the Southeast so here they come:

Canaan Valley is reporting 30° right now and they are expecting 4-5" of snow from Sunday night through Tuesday. They are open for day skiing only on Sundays and today they will offer 9 trails.

Just one ridge over is Timberline Resort and they too are showing 30°. They have 13 trails open and groomed conditions.

For the second morning in a row, Snowshoe’s website has not been accessible for us. Have they been down the entire time? Hope not! We’ll assume that they have the same 46 trails open and just cut to the weather.

Snowshoe’s weather forecast map on the National Weather Service page displays SNOW for every day from today through Thursday. Highs are expected to be in the teens and 20s and lows will be in the single digits and teens. That means snowmaking; that means snow and that means MORE terrain will open and that means that MLK weekend travelers will have a swell time. Did I say "swell"? The NWS is forecasting from 3-7" of snow for Snowshoe from Sunday through Monday night and with light snow still falling into at least Thursday.

Winterplace Resort wraps up our tour today with 18 trails of what they are reporting as Loose and Frozen Granular. They offer tubing today as well. Snow is in the forecast for all week at the Ghent, West Virginia resort.

That’s it for today…

Enjoy your day…

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