Christmas to New Year Skiing and Snowboarding Plans are L-O-O-K-I-N-G good!
There’s a bunch of cold air in the northern part of the U.S. but it isn’t going to make it into our region at least until Wednesday says Meteorologist Brad Panovich. He adds that we seem to be in a trend cycle of sorts where the beginning of each week starts out wet and a bit warm followed by cold and snowy. That wouldn’t be a bad thing for the majority of skiers and riders that have to work for a living and can’t hit the snow until the weekend anyway!
Brad is forecasting temperatures cold enough to MAKE SNOW Wednesday and Thursday (perhaps around the clock) and then each night from Thursday night through Sunday night. After a mild Monday and Tuesday Brad expects highs in the 20s and 30s with lows in the teens and twenties. That sounds great to us and on top of that it looks like there’s some natural snow in the forecast for the weekend.
Several weather sources are forecasting VERY COLD air and snow showers continuing into Monday and Tuesday of NEXT week and that is GREAT news as that will take us right up to a couple of days prior to Christmas and with numerous days of snowmaking AND some natural snow showers in the mix, we should see some very nice conditions and a lot more terrain open for our Holiday skiing.
Dr. Ray Russell of Ray’s Weather even rates our chances of a White Chistmas as "above average" for this season! He reports, "Our definition of a White Christmas is either A) some snow on the ground Christmas Day, B) snowflakes in the air Christmas Day, or both A & B. Cold air will remain over the Eastern US next week. We’ll have to wait and see if/when/where moisture gets involved."
So stay tuned and we’ll keep you informed but things are looking GREAT for the next couple of weeks according to Brad Panovich, the National Weather Service, Ray Russell and others! IF you have not booked your ski getaway yet – NOW is the time to do it because things are looking great for the couple of weeks ahead and accommodations are limited at many ski areas.
Check the snow report for temperatures and other details. Here’s the Cliff Notes…
Appalachian Ski Mountain is reporting 7 trails open and ice skating and two of three terrain parks for day and night sessions as well.
Cataloochee is skiing and riding on 90% of their terrain with 14 out of 16 trails available for day session only on Monday. They begin their regular season operating schedule on Tuesday. Tammy Brown writes, "will start on our regular operating schedule of day, twilight and night skiing beginning Tuesday, December 15 at 9am. Holiday rates will begin Saturday, December 19 and continue each day through Friday, January 1."
Ski Beech is open for day and night skiing and snowboarding with 5 trails open and groomed conditions. Ice skating is open as well.
Wolf Ridge Resort is open with 5 trails for day and night sessions and snow tubing as well.
Sugar Mountain is reporting 9 trails open for day and night sessions and ice skating is open as well.
Be sure to click over to www.SkiSoutheast.com to see the openings and conditions for ALL of the ski resorts of the Southeast and Mid Atlantic! You can check the snow reports for all of the ski resorts of West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee and North Carolina via
https://www.skisoutheast.com/skireports.php as well as videos, photos and more.
Send your comments, videos, photos, trip reports and questions to: [email protected]