After another day of 60°-plus temps (today) we will see temperatures cool slightly for the weekend as the forecast for much of the region is for sunny skies and highs in the mid 50s or so for Saturday and in the 40s for Sunday.
There’s also a slight addendum to that forecast and it should include the forecast for FUN and lots of it. This is the last weekend of skiing and snowboarding for all of the ski areas in the region with the lone exception of Timberline in Tucker County, West Virginia which plans to ski and ride until April 6th.
Check the Slope Resorts page for all of the details for your favorite resort.
Suffice to say that both North Carolina ski areas are open with the exact same setup as on Thursday.
<Appalachian is looking snowy-white today!
know of several people who are planning to be over at Appalachian’s Meltdown Games fun and we’re hoping to be among those attending to take part in the fun and gain some Kodak moments! They are 100% open for this last weekend with what should be a lot of fun. It is really amazing how nice and snowy-white App looks at this point in the season.
Cataloochee is looking pretty good on the 5 remaining trails they have open for this last weekend of the ski season. They’ve groomed a nice swath of snow for your enjoyment today, Saturday and Sunday. Hats off to Chris Bates, Tammy Brown and their crew for hanging in there through a less-than-stellar weather pattern over in beautiful Maggie Valley.
If you want to ski elsewhere for this last weekend, you’ll have to head north a few hours to Winterplace and the West Virginia resorts. Three of the four WV resorts are looking good as well and are offering some closing festivities as well. You can find the latest announcements by clicking here> Southeast and Mid Atlantic Ski Resort News The latest announcements are listed first.
Snowshoe’s Laura Parquette wrote, "Only 3 days left in the season and Mother Nature is still playing games…The rain held off for much of the day yesterday, but it doesn’t look like we’re going to get that lucky again today. A rather soggy day is in store, and that means some additional thin and bare spots may develop. Only the beginner trails and the terrain park were groomed overnight, so please be aware of variable terrain. The good news is the weather should improve for tomorrow, and that means great conditions for participants and spectators for our Last Hurrah! festivities."
Wisp Resort is also reporting rain up that way for today but a better forecast for their weekend of fun. They have 28 trails open as well as terrain parks, snow tubing and their exciting mountain coaster.
JUST FYI…(Lots to share today!)
It’s the last weekend for most ski areas but that hasn’t kept you guys from paying attention! We received a few emails (Thursday) of note that I thought I’d share this morning.
One reader wrote in response to my statement yesterday about the fact that Timberline should close on Sunday with all of the rest of the resorts. He stated, "I enjoy your website, but never should a fellow skier try to influence a resort to close so he may begin "vacation". If you don’t like spring skiing as much as me, find a new sport. Sorry, just being honest."
Ouch! His statement is true! However, I was being sarcastic…you know, just kidding! Really. The messageboard crew is often relating how tough it is to make sarcasm "come through" in the written word and my own words rose up and bit me yesterday. The fact is though that for 12 seasons we’ve started reporting and providing content a few days before any resort opens and we’ve never ceased reporting until the last resort closes. We’ll do the same this season as well.
More About Snowshoe’s Snow Totals…
We keep getting more and more data about Snowshoe’s under-reporting of seasonal snow. Greg Dobson first brought the official NWS data to our attention (you guys can look at the archived stories for more on that) and then Walter Doehring reported info straight from NOAA that confirmed the fact that Snowshoe has, in fact, seen 134.7" of snow this season.
Greg took that one more step when he emailed me overnight stating, "Mike, I am excited to see the buzz this has generated. The monthly totals are cool, but I can do better than that, especially since I work directly with folks at NCDC, how about daily amounts straight from the COOP station itself!!"
Greg sent us links to NCDC PDF files, and then took the time to create an Excel spreadsheet that displayed the data in terms that even I can understand! He compiled the data from November 1st through yesterday (March 27th) and we’ll his comments speak for him.
He wrote, "From this, we can see some very interesting statistics. For instance, since Nov. 1, there have been 147 days, 52 of which Snowshoe recorded snow. I don’t know how many days they usually record snow, could be determined, but until then it is hard to put this number into perspective. Next, there have been no days with more than 12", which I find surprising, knowing they usually get some big storms. Obviously a storm could start one day and last 2 days, so the storm total could be more than 12", but according to these numbers, that could only have happened a time or two. Also, there have only been 8 days with more than 6". There are also 11 missing values, days where no measurement was taken, so there is a slight chance that the totals get be a bit higher, could be determined with a little more analysis.
The COOP Observer Program is managed by the local NWS offices. They receive the reports from the observers at the end of every month, then send the reports to NCDC for QC and archival."
For the record, Greg’s most recent data-share shows that Snowshoe had 134.6" of snow. However, there are 11 days during the season that no data was sent. Chances are there was a TRACE of snow day in there that could make up the .1" difference.
Too cool guys. Thanks for sharing!
APPALACHIAN STRUTS A BIT…
A few days ago we posted a press release that was sent to us from Winterplace Resort. The purpose of the release to announce that Winterplace extended their season from March 23rd to March 30th. However the release included a sentence that stated, "Winterplace increased their snowmaking capacity this season and is looking at adding even more capacity for next season. Winterplace boasts the highest snowmaking capacity per acre in the Southeast."
"Not so fast", says Brad Moretz, co-owner and General Manager of Appalachian Ski Mountain.
Brad wrote, "The Winterplace statement should be changed to read ‘the greatest snowmaking capacity per acre in West Virginia.’ Appalachian installed the largest pumping sytem constructed in America last year, which puts our pumping capacity at 162 gpm/ per acre. Winterplace’s is 78 gpm per acre (based on 90 acres at 7,000 gallons per minute.)"
Moretz also shared, "Appalachian Ski Mtn. has more than double the snowmaking capacity per acre of any ski area in the Southeast and that is what we will be advertising."
That’s it from me for today…Enjoy your day!
Until Next time…
Be sure to visit www.SkiSoutheast.com for more news from the rest of the Southeast and Mid Atlantic ski areas!
Send your snow photos, videos, comments or emails to: [email protected]