Editor’s Update at 4:20pm:
It began snowing a nice snow during the middle afternoon and we do have some accumulations. We’ll report on those later tonight or in the morning! Meteorologist Brad Panovich wrote to inform us that the thinks that most of the Western NC Mountain will see a light 1-2" snowfall and maybe a bit of mixed precip tomorrow. He’s calling for a MAJOR DUMPING OF SNOW into the Virginias and above. He says that everything is in place to dump from one and a half to TWO FEET of SNOW around Snowshoe in West Virginia with a foot of snow not uncommon in the areas surrounding that region!
Before I get into today’s update, Austin Beeghly, who has been a longtime SkiNC and SkiSoutheast fan and who is also a Central Florida native, wrote us:
"Mike, I have a quick request for you. As you may have heard Tornado’s had hit Central Florida Friday morning very early catching a lot of people of guard. The devastation is amazing. I am writing to see if your viewers could take a second or two and say a prayer or two for the people that lost their lives and houses in the storms. I myself had no damage, and am very lucky. But one county away from me just an example of how bad it is – a 9 year old, her mother, and her grandmother passed away. That is just 3 of the 20 so far. Where there were trees and house now lays scrap metal and broken lives. It is a horrible sight down here and this has disrupted a lot of people’s lives. We are not talking about a few houses, instead it is over a thousand. The crazy part is most people would think just mobile homes would be damaged from a Tornado. But houses made of cinder blocks and concrete were leveled. The NWS has confirmed multiple tornados at F2 through strong F3’s on the Fujita scale. Please keep those people in mind and in your prayers. I saw the devastation myself and it is not even describable. God Bless!!!!"
Consider it DONE, Austin and we do pray for those trying to put their lives back together. We also pray for those like Austin who are dedicated emergency and response teams, who are working to help. America is a wonderful place and there’s no question that people will come to Florida’s rescue. All it takes is getting the word out. Here’s our attempt at that…
We posted a ton of new images on the websites Monday evening. Some of them were among the best that we’ve seen all season and perhaps for a few seasons! Dave McConnell sent in some really nice shots of Sugar from a week ago, and we also posted a few trip reports that you’ll want to check out. We have a week’s worth of additional photos and reports to post and we will get many of those posted today and then we plan to announce and award TWO more free vacation getaways (that’s four more total!) and dozens of free lift tickets as well, so stay tuned and be sure to visit the site Wednesday or Thursday morning for these announcements!
Since we’re in such a catch-up mode, I am combining today’s story to show on both SkiNC.com and SkiSoutheast.com. You’ll want to still check out the Photos of the Day on each site though, because we feature different views per site.
MORE SNOW IS ON THE WAY…AND COLD TEMPS CONTINUE!
The major news this morning is the morning low temperatures. Monday morning we saw low temps that were in the single digits all across the region. Sugar Mountain was the low on Monday morning in Western North Carolina with a reading of 3°. The lowest temperature that was reported in the Southeast and Mid Atlantic on Monday morning was up at -14°!!!
As cold as those temps were, it is EVEN COLDER this morning! It is literally some 2-7° colder across most of the region. Appalachian Ski Mountain is reporting 7° (about 2° colder); Ski Beech was 1° this morning at 4:55am and they reported a wind chill of -17.1° at that time. Sugar Mountain is again reporting the coldest temperature in the state with 0° this morning, after a report of 3° on Monday morning.
The coldest temps in the region are again into West Virginia’s Alleghany Mountains with Canaan Valley showing -8° and a wind chill of -31°! Snowshoe reported -13° and Timberline reported -14°!
All of those temps are under mostly sunny skies this morning. Clouds are forecasted to roar into the region mid-day and bring more snow into the area.
The most snow will fall in the upper elevations of West Virginia and Maryland as 3-5” of new snow is forecasted for Tuesday night and a bit more on Wednesday (perhaps another 1” or so!). The mountains of Western North Carolina are forecasted to see maybe an inch or so tonight and perhaps a bit more (1/2”) on Wednesday morning.
Unfortunately the forecast is also calling for some heavy/gusty winds as most weather sources are predicting 20-30 mph winds with gusts much higher (some forecast 40-65 mph). The best days of the week will be from Wednesday on…but conditions couldn’t be much better.
That additional snow and snowmaking will continue to provide what most everyone agrees is the BEST CONDITIONS of the season. If you’ve had a “pent up” desire to ski due to the slow start to the season, then what the heck are you waiting for!?!?
Until Next Time…
THINK COLD AND SNOW!!!
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For more information about the ski resorts of the Southeast and Mid Atlantic visit www.SkiSoutheast.com
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