What an interesting 24-48 hours it has been weather-wise. The storm we got over
the weekend hit some areas as expected and left others wondering what the heck was going on. Bryce Resort in Virginia is reporting that they received 5 inches of snow as of 3:00 yesterday afternoon and they committed to being open on Monday so skiers and riders can work in that new snow (pic). Bryce is still under a Winter Storm Warning this morning. Wisp Resort in Maryland is reporting 3 inches of natural snow plus another 4 inches that they were able to put down themselves. Snowshoe received 2 inches as did our Snow News is Good News weatherman, Joe Stevens in Scott Depot, WV.
On the other hand, the North Carolina High Country was pretty much left high and dry. I say this very tongue and check, because dry was the last thing we were. The precipitation never switched over and it was a rainy weekend for the most part. As a result, Beech Mountain, Appalachian Ski Mountain, and Sugar Mountain are all reporting a decline of 2 inches in their bases. Beech and Sugar are both reporting thin coverage in areas.
Sugar Mountain Resort
I want to take a break here for just a second if you don’t mind. I often show pics of just Sugar Mountain in the posts when mentioning both Sugar and Beech. I don’t do this to pick on Sugar (in cases like this when mentioning thinning conditions), it’s just that Beech is a little higher up and is very susceptible to low cloud coverage, morning fog, which prevents me from getting a good pic of the conditions. This morning is no different as Beech has some pretty thick cloud coverage reducing visibility substantially. This post’s cover photo is from Beech – taken from their Facebook page.
Cataloochee is closed today due to inclement weather. It looks like they will need to either make snow are do some pretty serious redistribution to ski again.
Cataloochee Ski Area
A quick look at Cataloochee weather shows rain today and tomorrow with snow making temps starting Tuesday night and continuing nightly through the rest of the week.
In general, it looks like the cold weather is here to stay for the week. Our neighbors to the north in Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia will stay below freezing for the most part with the North Carolina Mountains dipping down below freezing most nights.
On the lighter side of things, our message board member gmo1011 put up a pretty entertaining video of his trip to Appalachian Ski Mountain.
We have a lot to look forward to this week as we expect and hope for a little better weather and the opportunity for the resorts to lay down some much needed snow.
Tim Bahlke
Drop me an email at [email protected] to let me know what you think or with suggestions on what we could be doing better.