I was speaking with someone the other day about weather reporting websites based in the mountains. There are some VERY good ones. Perhaps my favorite is at www.localyokelweather.com . Preston Jacobsen offers probably the most well-rounded local weather for Cullowhee, Cataloochee, Highlands, Balsam, Glenville, Dillsboro and Sylva areas. He's huge on Twitter and seemingly never sleeps. Ray Russell does a great job with his www.RaysWeather.com network of stations. Locals around Boone and the High Country have come to pay attention to his forecasts for years now. We offer www.HighCountryWeather.com and a network of stations located at all of the ski areas for the Southeast and Mid Atlantic. HCW is updated automatically with 5 day forecasting and video forecasts from the National Weather Service, Meteorologists Herb Stevens, Brad Panovich and Kenny Griffin.
All of these reporting services are HUGELY visited during the winter months pulling perhaps 75% of the traffic we receive annually from about the time to Autumn leaves begin turning until the last of March when winter exits.
After THAT there are only so many ways that you can forecast something like, "Today's forecast is for highs in the 70s and chilly nightime temps with a chance of an afternoon shower."
THAT IS the forecast for nearly every day from early April through September 30th.
I HAVE A POINT HERE…HANG WITH ME…
When I began to put this morning's snow report BLOG together I found myself facing the same dilemma as weather forecasters during the Spring-Summer period. HOW MANY WAYS could I say that conditions right NOW are wonderful? No matter where you look, conditions are awesome with deep bases on the open terrain and from Groomed to Powder conditions.
Snowshoe, Canaan Valley, Timberline and Wisp ALL received more snow. Snowshoe and those areas have seen as much as 13" of snow over the last 8 days. Thanks to David Lesher of Davis, WV (he's still at it) I reviewed the last few days around Canaan and Timberline and found the following data:
They've got 8" on the ground right now and:
3.1" 24 hours
5.6" 48 hours
6.7" 72 hours
11.9" 96 hours
Thanks Dave!
Bear in mind that Wisp at 13.5" and Snowshoe at 13" both top those marks, so the upper tier of ski resorts in our coverage area have all had a bunch of powder skiing days lately!
Of course we've all seen some snow lately and there's lots on the ground still around the North Carolina resort mountains. Click on:
Cataloochee Snow and then to see snow on the ground at Beech Mountain – click here! Beech Mountain Parkway Snow.
I'm really liking the last camera link as it shows the full top of Beech Mountain Resort and some nice views of the Parkway as well.
So as I began posting the short excerpts from what I found at each ski resort this morning I found that I COULD have simply written, "There are GREAT conditions everywhere with great snowmaking and groomed to powder conditions and more terrain open."
Of course I know you guys like the details so I found myself challenged with coming up with additional words for great, awesome, sweet, etc. Thanks to the net and trusty synonym finders…here we go.
From what I could tell, Wolf Mountain was the only resort to report that they did not make snow. All others did. Here are the notables for today… in random order.
SNOWSHOE MOUNTAIN: 10° and 1-2" more snow on Saturday. They lead the region with 45 of 60 Trails, Snow Tubing, Snow Mobiling and Terrain Parks. Seems Snowshoe is in the same great mood that I am using super adjectives to describe their conditions. They posted, "Yep, it's official – WONDERFUL CONDITIONS this morning. Blessed with ANOTHER INCH of pristine powder, we're going to get to enjoy bangin' the boards on 185 acres of well maintained territory. That's 12 inches of beautiful pow that's fallen in just the last 5 days!
Robertson's Run, Timberjack & Progression Parks are ready for you to grab your board for gobs of hips, rails and jumps. Skill Builder Park, formerly Cubb Run, is a great place for beginners and Knot Bumper is ready for all you mogul fanatics to take on the bumps. Please be aware of variable conditions across the mountain.
The Snowshoe Basin area will be open from 9am- 4:30 pm. Silver Creek will be open from 9am – 9pm. The Coca-Cola Tube Park will be open from 1pm- 7pm.
Groomer's Choice is Gandy Dancer."
Are you guys enjoying the new cam at: http://www.resortcams.com/webcameras-snowshoe-shavers-centre.php
APPALACHIAN SKI MTN: 100% Open in Pristine Shape. All the terrain parks and ice skating are open as well. http://www.resortcams.com/webcameras-app-ski-mtn-live.php
BEECH MTN: 14 of 15 Trails Open; Ice Skating and Terrain Park Open as well. Beech is reporting NO snowmaking on their website but they actually ARE making snow as of this post at 8:15am and did overnight. Conditions will be awesome for today.
CANAAN VALLEY: 17 of 42 Trails Open for Day Sessions Sunday. Superlative Conditions on the slopes, tubing and of course ice skating for today. Canaan made snow as well.
MASSANUTTEN: 100% Open with BOTH Terrain Parks and Tubing Park open for day and night sessions. Superb conditions. See LIVE CAM AT: http://www.resortcams.com/webcameras-massanutten.php
THE HOMESTEAD: 8 of 10 Trails Open, Ice Skating, Snow Tubing and Snowmobiling are open. Amazing conditions as can be seen via: http://www.resortcams.com/webcameras-homestead.php DAY SESSIONS only today. Thanks to the Bahamian Marketing Manager, Eileen Judah for today's update. Love that name…so much so that I have a daughter by the same name.
WINTERPLACE: 100% Open! With all 27 Trails, all Terrain Parks and Snow Tubing open with IMPRESSIVE conditions. Check out: WINTERPLACE WEB CAM!
TIMBERLINE RESORT: 9°, 1" of new snow and they added (5) more trails and now have 29 of 40 Trails open for DAY SESSIONS on Saturday and Snow Tubing as well. Terrain Parks look great as well. Impressive conditions.
WISP RESORT: 4" of new snow and 13.5" in the last four days. They have 25 of 32 Trails, Snow Tubing, Ice Skating and Terrain Parks open for day sessions! INSPIRING conditions today! Can you say POWDER!?
CATALOOCHEE SKI AREA: Reporting that they are 90% open with 16 of 17 trails. THAT'S ACTUALLY 94.1% open Tammy 😉 Conditions will be sweet for DAY SESSIONS ONLY TODAY.
SUGAR MTN: 17 of 20 Trails Open; Tubing and Ice Skating Open and they made snow overnight and are this morning. Great conditions.
SAPPHIRE VALLEY: 21.9° and they are 100% Open with both trails 2 of 2 and their tubing park for today. Their website is down, but we called and the LIVE CAM is showing good conditions for those headed to Sapphire for a day of fun. Cam link: http://www.resortcams.com/webcameras-sapphire-valley-ski.php
BRYCE: 23.6°: 100% Open with Tubing as well. Day sessions only on very nice conditions and no snowmaking today.
WINTERGREEN: 25 of 26 Trails Open and Terrain Parks and Snow Tubing as well. Outstanding conditions for day and night sessions.
OBER: 6 of 9 Trails open til 7pm. TERRIFIC conditions and tubing and ice skating are open as well! Ober made snow and you can see how sweet is at: http://www.resortcams.com/webcameras-ober-gatlinburg.php
WOLF RIDGE: 9 of 22 Trails Open and Tubing; They are the only resort in the state that hasn't made snow in the last two days. Not sure why because the temps would seemingly have allowed them to. Their webcam LOOKS like that might have made snow but they are not reporting it on their website. Conditions look very nice.
Email me your thoughts and reactions at: [email protected]
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