RAIN CHANGING TO SNOW AND MAYBE UP TO 8 INCHES!

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IT’S WET TUESDAY…CHANGING TO SNOW. ONLY DIEHARDS WILL SKI OR RIDE TODAY, SO CHECK THE SLOPE CONDITIONS FOR DETAILS OF CONDITIONS. WE’LL SKIP RIGHT TO THE GOOD STUFF!

LET’S GET TO THE BIG NEWS…THE WEATHER!

THE WEATHER TAKES A 180° TURN!

I was up at 5am this morning and can tell you that it was 46° and not raining. At 7am it was pouring rain and the temp had dropped to 41°. This period of moderate rain is falling all across the Southeast and Mid Atlantic today. That will not hurt most of the ski areas that were in pretty good shape before the rain, but for those that were already thin…there will be some bare spots.

Ski Beech is still paying for a decision not to make snow early and often in the season and due to the weather post that initial startup they have had a difficult time building a base that will weather things kind of outbreaks of mild, moderate rain.

They are suffering a bit this morning but the good news is that only some crazed diehard would be on the slopes today anyway. (I know I will receive a few emails from some wet dogs out and about, but you know what I mean!)

Even GREATER news is that pretty much ALL of the mountain areas that makeup the Southeast and Mid Atlantic are expecting this rain to change over to SNOW and anywhere from 2-6" of it and maybe more!

Ray Russell of AveryWeather.com has forecasted that the Western mountaintops of North Carolina will experience near blizzard condtions at times this evening and that snow showers will continue into Wednesday and taper to flurries Wednesday night. Other forecasters are saying that our area could see 5-8" at the highest elevatiions and maybe more! Russell says, "This has potential to be the most impressive NW flow snow event of the season so far."

One look at the Natiional Weather Service forecast for Snowshoe, Timberline, Canaan Valley and Wisp Resort areas will make you think that their graphics department only had snow icons to post. There is snow in their forecast from now through Saturday…and potentially lots of it! I would not be surprised to see some of those areas with a foot of total accumulation by Wednesday evening!

RAIN TODAY IS NOT HELPING THE RESORTS THAT ARE FIGHTING THIN COVERAGE…

Wolf Ridge Resort in Western North Carolina has CLOSED for today. I have often wondered why resorts don’t do that more often when it’s pouring rain. Obviously there’s the consideration of employees. Nevertheless, Wolf is CLOSED for today. They wrote, "The UPPER LODGE is closed for the season! Lower Lodge is closed for today and will reopen Wednesday."

Thin Coverage and Bare Spots are appearing and although they don’t appear on their ski reports, they are showing through at Ski Beech, Hawksnest and Wolf Ridge in North Carolina. Sugar and Applachian get top picks for today in NC (if you’re going to weather the weather!) and Cataloochee gets honorable mention.

Let’s look and pray for SNOW!

All of the resorts will no doubt make snow as soon as temps allow!

NO COMMENT IS OFTEN THE BEST COMMENT…

We’ve gotten a lot of comments lately about one resort or another that could be perceived as "anti-xyz resort" comments and I had a thought early this morning that I think more accurately describes what is going on amongst our readership. One person writes a negative critique about a resort and then several people join in and the perception is that they or this website is anti-that-ski-area. In one case, one or two ski resort staffers get involved in the mix and everything gets blown out of proportion…making it a lose-lose for everybody involved.

As I wrote last week, when ski area staffers get involved by making counter comments…THAT becomes their first major mistake. My thought this morning was something of an analogy that I think fits. Lets say that I love the Atlanta Falcons. (I don’t but I need a team that isn’t doing so well right now!) I can LOVE that team and everything about it…but STILL criticize the owners and management for making what I think are bad choices and decisions. They can have a great game or two, but THAT does not make for a GREAT season or winning record. Intelligent fans can see the glaring problems and make comments HOPING to urge and aggrevate the management to do a better job and fix the problems so that OUR FAVORITE team can be on equal or competitive ground with the competition in our division.

Hopefully that analogy was so clear that I should not have to explain how that equates with certain ski areas that we call our favorite. (If you REALLY need an explanation, write me and I will send you a response…along with a continuing education certificate.)

The main thing that should be added here is that you will simply never see a major corporate management team lashing out and making derogatory comments against their fan base or the publications that cover them.

There’s a lesson to be learned in there somewhere.

Hopefully that answers all of your emails….

THE 1st ANNUAL SKISOUTHEAST.COM SUMMIT IS GAINING MOMENTUM!!! MAKE PLANS TO JOIN US!

11 Days to Go Until the 1st Annual SkiSoutheast.com Summit! If you’re reading this, you’re invited! We’ve invited all of the messageboard bloggers and this is your chance to meet many of them, ski and ride with them and yours truly for whatever that’s worth! I have invited our buddy and columnist Joe Stevens who is the spokesperson for the West Virginia Ski Areas as well and he’ll be making some turns with us as will some of the staffers of Snowshoe including at least Marketing Director Brad Larsen. (We’re still hoping to coax Communications gal, Laura Parquette to make some turns with you guys…and you never know – we may be able to get Snowshoe’s President Bill Rock to free up his schedule and hang with us some.)

We’ll plan on meeting up around 8:30am Saturday morning with our mass of attendees and go take over Snowshoe!

The Après-ski party at Moonshine will be a 4pm-7pm Saturday bit of festivities (Snowshoe expects many to keep the party going!) and there will now be Live Entertainment. We’ve invited a bunch of the messageboard’s most notable members and already have word from several that will be making it and we’re planning and making sure that we call attention to those guys. Hopefully all or most of the most notables will make it! We’ve got a ton of stickers and the new hoodies to giveaway and whatever we have left over of the SkiNC Hoodies will be given away as well!

Brad Panovich has agreed to do a remote weather broadcoast from the snow atop Snowshoe Mountain on Sunday morning and we’ll get a bunch of you guys on the air.

As of this morning we have some 63+ people planning to attend thus far! More people came up board yesterday than any day previously and the momentum is on!

Everyone is stoked and we’re adding to the fun so if you have not made and confirmed plans to attend do it today! The SkiSoutheast.com Summit will be held March 7th, 8th and 9th at Snowshoe Mountain. They are offering $100 Off Any On Mountain Lodging and Free lift tickets to anyone attending the Après-ski party at Moonshine Saturday evening. Oh yea, there’s Free Wings and even discounted pricing on domestic beers, etc. Click here to Join Us for All of the Fun of Spring Break and/or the SkiSoutheast.com Summit Weekend! 


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]

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