The winds were terrible on Sunday. SO BAD, that Hawksnest made the decision to close for the day! They announced earlier on Sunday morning that they

The winds were terrible on Sunday. SO BAD, that Hawksnest made the decision to close for the day! They announced earlier on Sunday morning that they were going to try and open around noon or so, but then made the decision not to open for skiing as winds gusted to nearly 50 mph around 1pm.

I was out feeding my horses at the foot of Beech Mountain and I can tell you that anyone out skiing on Sunday WANTED IT BAD!

According to our weather stations and the ASU Energy Initiative Wind Gauges our area had winds on Sunday afternoon that topped out at 65 and 70 mph and sustained winds in the 40-50mph range across the North Carolina Mountains.

I don’t have any real data on areas into West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland, but suffice to say it was about as windy as it can get without giving the winds a name. (That’s hurricane-speak for you left-coasters!)

The big news story this morning is the COLD temps being reported.

Here’s a quick tour around the Southeast:

Wisp Resort – minus 2° at the summit and they made and are making snow today. They also reported 2" of new snowfall in the last 24 hours and with the additional manmade snow they will no doubt be in great shape today. They have 25 trails open today, snow tubing, mountain coaster and more.

It was -3° at Canaan Valley this morning and they saw 1" of new snow and 4" from the storm. They also made snow and have 14 trails open.

Snowshoe Mountain is at -6° this morning! They reported a dusting of new snow, and made lots of machine made snow overnight and continue to on some trails today. They have a region-leading 58 trails open today and lots of groomed corduroy.

Editor’s Note: A couple of messageboard people have been going back and forth about grooming at Snowshoe and I don’t know who "wvsoul" or "jim" are but I can tell you that Snowshoe’s grooming is as good as it’s ever been and our staff would rate them right at the top in the United States. Our Southeast and Mid Atlantic ski resorts have some of the best snowmakers and groomers found anywhere and our readers have consistently rated the best of the Southeast to be:

Snowshoe, Winterplace, Wintergreen, Appalachian, Wisp Resort and Sugar Mountain as the best of the best…while most of the rest do a pretty fine job.

Timberline was also at -3° overnight, made tons of snow and they reported another 1" of new snow which takes both of the Tucker County resorts (Canaan is the other) to 96.3" of snow on the season which is tops for the Southeast and Mid Atlantic! Timberline has 29 trails open today.

Winterplace Resort has 25 of 28 trails open today. They report, "We have Groomed, packed powder and loose granular conditions. Ridgerunner, Buttermilk and Milkshake will be closed for snowmaking today. The Snowtubing Park and Kiddie park will open at 1 pm."

Massanutten Resort reported 6° this morning and plenty of snowmaking happening there! They will have 9 trails open today!

Wintergreen is reporting 6° this morning and if you read between the lines this morning, you get the feeling that it was VERY windy there on Sunday as well! Anne Marie Jones writes, "The strong winds have cleared out and left behind clear and colder temperatures. Mountain crews are strategically pulling trails offline for intense snowmaking efforts and will work their way throughout the resort . The current weather forecast shows consistent colder temperatures are expected to last through Tuesday evening with another storm system and cold front closely following. The average snow base depth throughout the resort is 15-40” with good skiing and riding conditions."

Appalachian – 14° – They made snow overnight and still were as of 8am and conditions will be great and they are 100% Open with two terrain parks and ice skating as well. Appalachian announced a great incentive to buy your 2008-2009 season passes now and you can ski free February 19-March 30th, 2008! You can check out that deal by clicking here> Appalachian Ski Mountain Season Pass Deal!
http://www.appskimtn.com/information_detail2.php?id=62

Season passes are a huge deal at Appalachian because they keep some of the best conditions in the region, they have some of the best amenities, clean lodge, restrooms, rentals, etc…and you KNOW how long your season will be at App as they always announce their opening and closing dates way ahead of time. Finally, they have the best terrain parks in the area, hands down.

Cataloochee – 15° – They are open for day skiing only on Mondays and they made snow overnight and were in the midst of grooming while we watched this morning. They have 11 trails of 14 open today and their popular tubing park is closed until Thursday under their normal mid-week operating schedule.

Hawksnest – 7° – They have 9 of 12 trails open today and their popular tubing hill. They made snow and will have some sweet conditions for Monday.

Ski Beech – 8° – They look GREAT this morning after nearly a full day of snowmaking and continued snowmaking this AM. Beech has stated that they will make snow as long as temps allow. They have 12 of 15 trails open today, their new terrain park and ice skating.

Sugar Mountain – 7° – They made and still are making snow this AM. They have 19 trails open, tubing, terrain parks and ice skating. Sugar is in GREAT shape for Monday.

Wolf Ridge – 18° – They are making snow and have 9 of 20 trails open today. They announced, "02-11-08 Top of the mountain will be closed to concentrate snowmaking in that area. Will possibly reopen for evening session. Get out and enjoy! Think Snow!"

Enjoy your day…

Send your snow photos, videos, comments or emails to: [email protected]