There’s LOTS and LOTS of snow in the mountains too 😉
You KNOW it has been a snowy six weeks or so when we don’t START this story with "It’s snowing!" It is – but that isn’t news today – at least for those of us who live in the mountains. After all, we have not seen the ground since around December 10th!
A Surprise Snowfall is Always THE BEST KIND of Snow!
How often could we possibly say that the West Virginia ski areas only saw 1.1" of new snow in the last 24 hours in the same breathe that we mention that portions of Virginia saw 2"?
It also odd to say that 8.8" of snow fell in North Carolina but it wasn’t in the mountains! Beech reported 3" of snow this morning while Harker’s ISLAND saw 8.8" of snow!
As if that isn’t incredible enough Summerville, South Carolina which is located in the Lowcountry, coastal region of the state officially saw 8.2" of snow in the last 24 hours! We have some good friends in Lexington and they called us reporting 5" or more and the CocoRaHS reporter in Lexington officially reports 7.0" of snow through this morning at 7am!
Fox News and others reported on Friday that every state in the United States had snow on the ground on Thursday and that is the FIRST time in recorded history that this has occurred! Over 75% of the United States is covered with snow this morning! Global Warming!?!?! THAT is some climate change for you!
In the wake of two huge blizzards that has left a truckload of snow in their path comes another snowstorm headed our way for Monday!
If this keeps up we may see some ski areas open up in South Carolina! My olf Northwood Hills neighborhood in Columbia had some nice hills in it! CocoRaHS is SLOW to reacte this morning because weather trackers are probably flooding it with snowfall totals from Texas, Florida and South Carolina!
THE SKI RESORTS ARE SEEING RECORD, TO NEAR RECORD CROWDS TODAY!!!
I was out and about late on Friday over towards Sugar Mountain and later on Highway 105 and let me tell you that there are a LOT of people here in the mountains for this weekend. At LUNCHTIME on Friday cars were parked out on the highway in front of Sugar. All of the parking areas were overflowing!
WE’RE TALKING NATURAL SNOW TOTALS TODAY…
Base depths are HUGE and the resorts have plenty of snow…and all of the slopes and trails are open with hugh crowds of people hitting the slopes this weekend with pent-up fever after many made the choice not to travel over the last few snow storm weekends. This weekend will be a HUGE – HUGE skier visit weekend for that reason and also because the conditions are fantastic no matter where you’re headed to ski or ride this weekend – AND because it is President’s Day Weekend and it is the last long weekend for people to take a three or four day getaway. (Now THAT was one long, run on sentence!)
So with all of the resorts in 100% operating status with base depths that are in the order of one-to-two stories of snow (only a slight exaggeration) we’ll be sharing natural snow on the ground numbers today!
Several of you guys and gals emailed me asking just that. For example, Tina Martelle of Atlanta, Georgia wrote, "My man and I are headed to the mountains for a romantic getaway and I am orginally from Florida and I have never seen snow so I want to know where in the mountains has the most snow and how much, please."
Tina may have now seen snow in her own hometown by the time I post this to our story this morning, but we’ve answered her question for the thousands of others who have written with similar queries.
In summary we can tell you that you can see snow on the ground at every ski resort in the region. We were speaking with some family and friends in South Carolina on Friday evening about their snowfall and I shared the fact that those of us who LIVE in the mountains have had complete snow coverage on the ground (with quite a lot of snow on the ground) since Mid December! It will be a weird feeling when Spring hits this season when the ground begins to reveal itself again as it has been quite a long time since the ground hasn’t been solid white!
Anyway, here’s the snowy numbers for you. …and since we’ve been reporting heavy snow from north to south all winter – and since more snow fell into the more southerly regions in the last 24 hours – let’s go south to north – kind of.
Appalachian Ski Mountain – 2.1" – 14.2" on the ground and 63" on the season. App is offering Eight Weeks of Free Skiing and More! As of President’s Day Monday February 15, Appalachian Ski Mtn. is offering its best season membership deal ever – buy your 2010-11 season membership before April 11 and ride free for the last 8 weeks of the 2009-10 season. New this year, Appalachian is also offering exciting additional benefits for any new or current member that buys a 2010-11 season membership by April 11.
Beech Mountain Resort picked up 3" and they have 9" on the ground and they’ve now surpassed their annual snowfall total and we still have six more weeks of season left! They are now at 81" on this season!
Cataloochee Ski Area picked up 3" of new snow – 5" are on the ground to take them to 54" on the season.
Sapphire Valley saw 3.3" of snow and that has them with 3" on the ground and 24" on the season.
Sugar Mountain Resort – My peeps at Sugar are only reporting 1" of snow (I don’t know what’s come over them lately with all of this UNDER reporting! I’m just so proud!) but they actually received 2" of new snow and they too have about 8" or so of snow on the ground and 74" on the season!
We want to make you guys aware that Sugar will be hosting a Spyder Sample Sale beginning Thursday with the newest 2011 fashions. It is ONLY at Sugar and quantities and sizes are limited to get their early. Maybe hit Sugar on Thursday or Friday and come ski with us at Beech for the annual SkiNC/Beech Summit on Saturday! By the way Sugar is promoting 30% off retail for that sale. (I’ll bet it’s in our honor! J-u-s-t kidding. Maybe one of these days!)
Wolf Ridge Resort saw another 2" of new snow even though they are not sharing that fact with their audience via their website. They have about 5" of snow on the ground and now 62" on the season, which is well over their annual average.
Ober Gatlinburg reported 3" of new snow in the last 24 hours and 7" in the last 72 hours and now 32" on the season. They have about 4" of snow on thr ground right now. It’s so cool to see Ober get in the natural snow picture.
Bryce Resort reports no new snow in the last 24 hours, but they still have 4" of snow everywhere and 60" of snow on the season…which is over their annual snowfall totals.
Massanutten Resort has taken to sharing their annual snowfall total on their snow report page now, which is indicative of the fact that they’ve already exceeded their annual snowfall tally. They report no new snow in the last 48 hours, but they still have about 4" on the ground and 68" of the natural stuff on the season.
The Homestead is reporting no new snow in the last 48 hours but they’ve still got a snowpack of a couple of inches on the ground (a reminder that we’re talking natural snow cover here as they and all of the ski areas have several FEET of snow base depth on the slopes) and they’ve surpassed their annual snow totals with 54" on the season to date!
Wintergreen Resort is reporting 1" of new snow in the last 24 hours and they have 4" or so on the ground and 85" of snow on the season. More than 66" of that snow has fallen in three major storms!
Canaan Valley Resort has way surpassed their annual snowfall totals for the 2009-2010 ski and snowboarding (and cross country skiing) season! They picked up another 1.1" of new snow in the last 24 hours, 14.4" in the last 72 hours and if that isn’t enough try these numbers:
53.8" since FEBRUARY FIRST!!!
68.7" during the month of January!
122.5" since January 1st and 181.9" on the season!
Canaan and Timberline Resorts are one ridge apart and the same numbers apply for both ski areas and they have 31" of snow ON THE GROUND!
Snowshoe Mountain isn’t reporting any new accumulation in the last 24 hours but they’ve seen 16" in the last 72 hours or so and 40" of snow THIS WEEK! They have piles of snow everywhere on the ground and there’s so much snow that reportedly Laura Parquette has turned up missing! She was last seen burrowing into the deep snow slopeside. JUST KIDDING! Laura is on here way to Vancouver to enjoy the Olympics! Lucky girl!
Laura’s going to TRY to BLOG us updates from Vancouver all week long and we’ll share any news with you guys. How cool is that?
Snowshoe peeps want you to know, "We’ve received nearly 40 inches of snowfall this week, and the forecast is calling for more for at least the next 5 days. We could see some daytime accumulation today, a nice addition to the powder stashes in places across the mountain. If you’re lucky enough to be on the mountain this weekend, you’re about to experience some of Snowshoe’s greatest conditions in history! In fact, these conditions are SO good, we’ve decided we can’t get enough of them, and we plan to ski and ride right on through April. That’s right, Snowshoe has announced that we’re taking advantage of these historic conditions and staying open through the Easter Holiday. Our new closing date is set for April 5th. And that means you have more time to make plans to visit! Plus, that will give you an extra week in March to take advantage of great offers like a $200 gift card with 4+ night lift/lodging package and Kids Ski Free with 3+ night lift/lodging package."
In case you missed that – Snowshoe plans to be open now through April 5th! Laura had shared that with me a few days ago but asked me not to say anything just yet. NOW the word is out! They probably have enough snow to make it May! Snowshoe is fast approaching their annual snow total and now have seen 158" of snow on the season.
Ditto Timberline on Canaan’s snowfall totals. One of these days I’m going to get up with Kim and the guys up at Timberline and see if we can’t help them power up that website of theirs. Those two gerbils that power the internet connectivity up there just makes that website soooooo sllloooowwww!
Winterplace Resort is reporting a TRACE of new snow and more than a foot in the last few days and they have 5-6" of snow on the ground and 126" of snow on the season which surpasses their annual average and there’s still so much of winter left!
Wisp Resort posted another 1" of snow in the last 24 hours and 20" in the last 72 hours. Wisp has seen a WHOPPING 67" of snow this week (since last Saturday!) and they have 48" of snow ON THE GROUND! That’s four feet of snow everywhere, right now! Can anyone say SNOWMOBILE! The Garrett County, Maryland ski area normally sees 100" of snow during a full season and they have now reached the 177" mark.
We’re on day 77 and there are 60 more days of opportunities to enjoy the snow for the 2009-2010 ski and snowboarding season!
That’s it for today. Check out the Snow Report at https://www.skisoutheast.com/skireports.php and please send us your favorite ski photos, ski videos, trip reports and comments to [email protected]