Merry Christmas All! May the one and only God, Creator of all things, Bless You All on the day that we celebrate the birth of His Son and Our Savior Jesus Christ.
There are some small tweaks to today’s schedule at some resorts so let’s dive right in.
Snowshoe Mountain is the coldest spot in the region this morning at 19° this morning. They made snow last night and will continue to today as long as temps allow. They offer a region leading 36 trails today serviced by 11 trails. They also have two terrain parks operating with Spruce Glades offering six features.
Timberline Resort has five trails today for day skiing. They made snow overnight and will as long as temps allow. They saw an overnight low of 22°!
Winterplace Resort is looking pretty sweet today as they ride on 13 trails and 5 lifts. They too made tons of snow overnight and will continue to as long as temps allow. Their Snowtubing Park is OPEN today at 9am!
Bryce Resort did not make snow last night. They offer five trails to ski and ride, as well as snow tubing today.
Massanutten Resort did not make snow, and they are opening late for Christmas Day to allow their staff and families to open gifts before heading in. They open today at 12:30pm and will ski and ride til 8pm. They are offering REGULAR season rates today on two trails which they report as thin coverage.
Wintergreen Resort is making snow this morning and did overnight as temps dropped to 32°. They offer skiing and snowboarding on 6 trails. They have shut down their tubing hill for Christmas Day only and will reopen it on Wednesday. They wrote, "MERRY CHRISTMAS! Eagles Swoop, the Lower Crosstrail, Potato Patch, Discovery Ridge and Dobie are all open. The Plunge will be closed today and tomorrow for snowmaking. The plunge will re-open on December 26th. For those guests that want to tube, the slide will be open today and tomorrow."
Ober Gatlinburg was not able to make snow. They are open Christmas Day from Noon til 7pm with 4 trails.
Appalachian Ski Mountain is CLOSED today to allow all of the family and staff to celebrate Christmas with their families. How cool is that? Nice touch Brad and family. They made snow last night and will again this evening so conditions will be sweet on Wednesday.
Cataloochee is opening late on Christmas Day. They open today at 1pm and will ski and ride til 10pm. They made snow last night and offer seven trails today. Tube World located in Maggie Valley, across from Ghost Town four miles from the ski area will be open from 10am until 6pm today with 1hour and 45 minute sessions available beginning at 2, 4, 6, and 8pm.
Hawksnest opens at 12:30pm today and they too made snow last night and will ski, snowboard and tube today. They offer 4 trails for your pleasure from 12:30pm-10pm.
Ski Beech is opening at Noon today and will ski til 10pm on 4 slopes and ice skating as well!
SUgar Mountain opens at Noon as well and will ski and ride on 8 trails. They made snow most of the day on Monday and last night as well. They were still making snow at of 8:30am this morning even though the temps are showing 37°. They offer Ice Skating as well.
Wolf Ridge Ski Resort is Closed today as well. They will reopen on Wednesday morning for skiing, snowboarding and tubing. Nice touch Orville, Rick and family.
WHAT’S GOING ON WITH THE WEATHER???
It looks like whatever American and European Models were used to forecast the weather and temps must have been dumb blonde models. (To keep the beautiful blonde-haired women off my back…I am alluding to WEATHER COMPUTER MODELS!) A few days ago the American computer models were forecasting somewhat milder temps than the European and most weather gurus were leaning towards the latter being somewhat more accurate. I guess that’s why they have some many models because it now appears that the American computer model may have been the most accurate after all.
I can sense a lot of you asking, "What the HECK is he babbling about?" Basically what I am rambling about it that it now appears that we’re still getting some moisture in the forecast, but the temps may be too mild to make it come down as snow. Depending on where you are skiing and playing for your Holiday trip…you will probably get SOME "under-developed snow" (rain).
Right now it looks like the mountains into West Virginia and Maryland will see basically dry conditions (though cloudy) for Wednesday and Thursday with some good chances of light rain on Friday. Friday night could end up being some wintry precip as temps are forecasted to drop into the 20s.
Saturday looks nice, and then they may see some snow Saturday night.
The resorts further south into Virginia and North Carolina looks pretty nice. The North Carolina mountains may see some "White Christmas Night" light snow. The forecast seems to be hinting that some areas of the mountains…particularly the higher elevations (above 3500 ft)…may see up to 1" of snow this evening and into Wednesday morning. Areas lower than that may see some light rain overnight.
Wednesday and Thursday look nice for the North Carolina mountains with seasonal highs in the low to mid 40s and overnight lows around freezing. Friday looks a bit wet at this time, but Saturday is now shaping up to be dry during the day. That is good news to Holiday skiers!
Sunday may bring a sprinkle or two but then Monday is looking nice and dry as well.
So let’s look at things with the glass half full. There’s good terrain to ski and ride on…with some decent snowmaking that has prepared our slopes with good conditions. While none of the resorts will be 100% open, most all of them are offering some pretty good conditions. If you have a ski trip planned for the next week it appears that the majority of it will offer some very nice skiing and riding. We may see a shower or two one or two days…but all in all it beats the heck out of last season at most resorts.
If you’re at Snowshoe this next week…look us up. Drop me an email and I’ll try to meet up and get some pics and video…
GET US SOME PHOTOS OF YOUR HOLIDAY SKI FUN!
THINK COLD, pack your gear and get your rear – UP HERE – and Enjoy your day…
Until Next time…
Be sure to visit www.SkiSoutheast.com for more stories and skiing in the Southeast!
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