Happy Monday! I hope all of you guys and girls had an amazing Christmas holiday! As I mentioned last week I spent the weekend in New Bern, North Carolina. Thursday’s ride down I noticed many of the roads in the eastern part of the state appeared to be pretreated for winter weather and then I saw several large trucks with the big ol’ tanks on them spraying the roads. My guess is they were preparing for some major weather. No weather really showed up until Sunday morning. Around 5 or 6 Sunday morning the snow started, and it didn’t stop. New Bern was buried beneath 4 inches of snow before we even hit the road to come back up to the High Country, and more was definitely on the way. Let me tell you something, people in eastern NC start to FREAK out when it snows. The towns are just not prepared for the elements and everything all but shuts down. Not to mention the drivers don’t have a CLUE how to drive. I’ve been driving in this weather now for 10 years, so to me it’s easy, but good grief there are some real terrible drivers out there. That’s when I say, STAY HOME! The roads all the way from New Bern to Raleigh were pretty sketchy. Once I-40 was in sight things began to shape up really well! DOT crews were handling everything brilliantly! Finally when we were nearing Boone the weather took another turn for the worse. More snow, high winds, and cooooold temperatures were waiting with open arms to welcome us back! It’s been much of the same overnight, I took the my dog out this morning at 5:30 am (I went back to bed!) and I’d say there was at least another 3+ inches outside my door. Snow is still coming down!!!
If you’re heading out today, take some pictures and send them to us at [email protected]! We love seeing what’s going on, especially if y’all are out there fitting in some powder runs!!
There will be lots of exclamation points in today’s tour of the area, I have a feeling!!!!
North Carolina
Appalachian Ski Mountain – 12°- MORE powder on the mountain this morning. Another four inches of snow fell at App Ski Mtn adding to the 6 inches they already had, that’s 10 on this storm and it’s still coming down! Conditions have got to be unbelievable and all slopes are open!! Appalachian is open today from 9:00am-12:00am! That’s over 12 hours of skiing and riding time! Midnight Blast hours are in effect from now through the New Year’s Eve Extravaganza!
Beech Mountain– 6°- ANOTHER 11 inches of POWDER at Beech Mountain today!! That’s 16 inches on this storm and it’s still spitting snow everywhere!!! Amazing conditions today!!! All 15 trails are open. Today is a perfect day to get some powder turns in!! Beech has pulled down an incredible 64 inches of snow this season, and it’s only December! Talk about late Christmas gifts!!!
Cataloochee-12.7 °- POW POW POWDER!! Add another four inches to Cataloochee’s 11 off this storm, a total of 15 inches of pretty white precious powder. Cataloochee has received 42 inches of snow so far this year!! Open all day for day, twilight and night skiing and riding on all slopes, conditions at the Cat are memorable to say the least!! It’s still snowing down in Maggie Valley!
Sapphire Valley– 16.5°- Open today! No new natural snow to report but snowmaking ops were fired up over night. Both slopes are open for skiing and riding on a 30-42 inch base. Tubing is also open!
Sugar Mountain – 16°- Open today underneath a blanket of nine inches of Freshies!! It’s a powder day at Sugar Mountain!! The 14 inches of snow from this storm bring Sugar’s snowfall totals to 56.4 inches this season!! All slopes are open with 7 lifts running! Hat and gloves required today!
Wolf Ridge Resort – 16°- Another 11 inches of snow and Wolf Ridge Resort!!! WOW! That’s 19 inches on this storm (!!!) and 55 on the seasons. Wolf Ridge is open for skiing and riding on an 80 inch base with 16 slopes and both lodges fully operational. Plans are to have the rest of the resort open by the end of the week!
Virginia
Bryce Resort– 27°- No new snow to report at Bryce today but conditions are excellent. Bryce is open on 7 slopes with a 30-65 inch base for your skiing and riding pleasure!!
Massanutten– 27°- Open 100% with great conditions!! No new snow to report but Massanutten is running all lifts on all slopes today! Open until 10pm! Tubing and ice skating also open!
Wintergreen– 14.4°- OPEN today with 26 trails and 5 lifts!! Overnight snowmaking means excellent conditions today. Wintergreen is open from 10am-11pm today. Terrain Park Update: Progression Park: 10 ft box, 20 ft rail, double barrel shotgun rail, 2 progression rails, small and large propane tank rails, down rail, 2 small jumps, medium jump, 2 progression tables and a battleship rail. Advanced Park: Flat down rail, barrel bonk, big table, propane tank hip, fuel tank vert wall, leaning fun box.
West Virginia
Canaan Valley – 8°- Open on 100% of the mountain with 9.4 inches of POWDAH!!! Conditions at Canaan are perfect today!! Tubing, cross country skiing, ice skating and snowshoeing are all open today! Canaan has had 73 inches of snow this season…booyah!
Snowshoe Mountain– 12°- Add 8 inches of snow to the surfaces of beautiful Snowshoe!! That’s 61 inches this season! Here’s what the team at Snowshoe has to say, “There seems to be snow falling in all directions this morning. We have 8" of new snowfall on the ground, but gusty winds are causing lots of blowing snow. That means there should be powder stashes across our 52 open slopes today. Both Lower Shay’s and Widowmaker were left ungroomed this morning, so you expert powder hounds should head there first. But with several additional inches of snowfall expected throughout the day, there should be fantastic powder conditions everywhere!"
Timberline Resort – 8°- Another 9.4 inches of snow at Timberline brings the season total to 73 inches of the freshness! Incredible…and it’s still December! Open on 34 of 38 trails for skiing and riding on excellent conditions!!!
Winterplace – 18°- Open on 24 of 28 trials under 7 inches of new snow. That’s 39 inches on the season!! Folks at Winterplace say “The Hickory Terrain Park will open later today. We plan to have the Panorama Terrain Park open tomorrow. Wood’s Run will open later today!!!!” Conditions are excellent across the board at all the West Virginia ski areas!!
Maryland
Wisp Resort – 11°- Open today with 9 inches of fresh snow!! That’s a season total so far of 65 inches! Unbelievable conditions in December. All terrain parks are open with some fun features!! The Mountain Coaster and ice skating are also open!!
Tennessee
Ober Gatlinburg – 16°- Open today on 7 slopes under another 2 inches of fresh snow! That’s 10 inches on this storm and 24 on the season! Things are looking pretty sweet in Tennessee today! Tubing opens today at 9am.
That’s all for today, folks. Be careful out there. Road conditions aren’t nearly as great as slope conditions, so be careful, use a little common sense, and have fun. The season has never looked better!!
And, as always, THINK COLD! THINK SNOW!!
Check out our sister websites www.HighCountryWeather.com and www.HighCountryWebcams.com !!!
Send photos, videos, questions or comments to [email protected] or [email protected] !!!