Before we get another day into the 2007-2008 ski season I want to stop and pay homage to Brad Panovich and Matthew East. WCNC, NBC 6 Meteorologist Brad Panovich has been "hanging around" SkiNC and SkiSoutheast for a few years now and he has been a phenomenal resource to share his view on the weather during that time. A couple of years ago he began sending us some content here and there. Last year he was really busy moving up the weather ladder, handling more and more weather broadcast so we didn’t here from him a lot, but when we did it was during those rare times that snow was in the forecast! Late last season Brad began to hint that he was "playing around with some video ideas" but the lack of time kept that from coming to fruition.
Then before this season began he and I communicated a few times and he compiled the video that is on our video page right now that detailed the 2007-2008 Winter Forecast. Go take a look at it and you’ll find it amazingly accurate thus far. (Click here to see it)
Shortly thereafter Brad agreed to provide Wednesday night updates to our viewers that would forecast each weekend of the ski season. He has faithfully done that. More about THIS weekend and the Christmas Holiday forecast in a moment.
…and in THIS CORNER, wearing the burgandy ski pants and weighing in at… is M-a-t-t-h-e-w- -E-a-s-t !
Near or around the same time that Brad was finalizing the ability to post content with us, Matthew East contacted us and volunteered to post a weather blog of sorts every 3-5 days all season long. He too has been faithful about sending his updates to those of us who are acutely interested in knowing what the weather was going to do. Matthew East is a Carolina News 14 Meteorologist and obviously a snow lover as well. Matthew even sent one early season update while sick as a dog. Matthew has just sent us a video of his own for weather forecast for the coming weekend and Christmas Day. More about that in a moment.
A HEARTY "THANK YOU" Gentlemen!
I don’t want this to be misunderstood as SkiNC and SkiSoutheast "tooting our own horn"…so let me be clear when I mention the following bit of information. I searched around and I have not found another ski website that is dedicated to a specific region in the way that SkiNC and SkiSoutheast is that has "their own" meteorologist, much less TWO of them! Before I get jumped on, I am certainly aware of BestSkiWeather and Herb Stevens of SkiWeatherMan notoriety, but those are national websites and they are not dedicated specifically to our region. In fact, those mentioned only provide a cursory "dusting" of information about our resorts other than occasionally mentioning Snowshoe. No offense to Herb, because he does a great job at what he does, but he’s evidently even discontinued his SkiingWeatherman.com website and now is "SnoCountry’s Skiing Weatherman". After 30 minutes of reading his last ten posts, only one sentence mentioned "the central Appalachians" as everything focused elsewhere.
That brings me back to our meteorologists of this area. We occasionally hear from numerous weather gurus and meteorologists out there and appreciate every single bit of information that is shared with us. (Honorable mention to Mike Stinneford of Washington DC – keep it coming Mike!) Thanks to all who give us "mentions" on the air all across the Southeast. At one time or another we have heard from more than 60 television stations (mostly the weather guys and gals!) and all are phenomenal to give us some props. We hear from readers all of the time about this or that television station in their hometown talking about us on the air and that is wonderful. Jim Cantore and Paul Goodloe of The Weather Channel have done some representin’ from time to time and we can thank our buddy, Joe Stevens for that.
However to have two pros in Brad Panovich and Matthew East talking us up AND providing regular weather content is simply invaluable to us and our readers. We have had so many emailers "thank us" for providing this great resource and we have to pass that praise to where it is due and that is to these two dedicate snow lovers…who happen to be meteorologists.
NOW FOR THE MAIN EVENT….
Earlier today, Brad Panovich sent us his weather update for this weekend and Christmas. You can view that by going to the front of SkiSoutheast.com and clicking the video in the middle column. In summary, Brad is calling for a wet, rainy couple of days, Thursday night into Saturday and Sunday…with some chances of it being mixed with some wintry precip. Light in nature…but wet nonetheless. As we get toward Christmas, Brad is thinking "white" and maybe very white. Check out that video!
Matthew East took a shot at sending us video this week, instead of his normal text based weather blog. You can view his very cool video by going to the video page (or simply click here!). In summary, Matthew tells us about a couple of weather models and he seems to favor the European model (hey we think all models look p-r-e-t-t-y sweet, especially the super models!) Anyway, the European model seems to be more favorable for colder temps as we head into Christmas and that, says Matthew could mean some light snow.
Brad seems to lean toward more favorable snowmaking and the potential for a snowy Christmas that COULD even be what Brad terms as "HUGE". Again, he favors West Virginia and Maryland…but even what he calls a significant snowstorm for the North Carolina and Virginia Mountains.
Matthew seems to be more reserved about any real snow, calling for a probable dusting. However, he said that things are still on the table for what could be a BLOWUP STORM.
BOTH weather gurus are saying that post Christmas will be CONSIDERABLY COLDER and that means good snowmaking temps and what should be a great ski Holiday weekend! That is certain to bring a smile to the faces of every reader and viewer out there…whether you manage a ski area or you’re planning to visit one this next week or so!
We’ll wait and see who gets closer to be on target, but regardless, we say THANK YOU BRAD AND MATTHEW…and thank you WCNC and Carolina News 14 for loaning these guys to us for the winter. We appreciate the on air props you give us regularly…and we appreciate these two snow lovers being a part of our team.
THINK SNOW, THINK COLD and let’s tip our glass to these weather dudes!
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