I walked out this morning and did a "double take", NOT from the extreme cold temps that I have seen each morning over the last week or so – but from the fact that it wasn’t all that cold! Crazy weather!
The low this morning was obviously in the middle of the night and it has risen some 15-18° since then.
As Meteorologists Brad Panovich and Matthew East forecasted – resorts could make snow around the clock this week with the possible exception of today and they hit it right so far. The resorts made snow on Monday and last night but they are off now that the temps are creeping into the mid 30s for today. The low will dive right back down into the teens on Wednesday night and that will crank the snowmakers back up.
The normal temps for today? Highs around 41° and lows near 21°. Temps will stay on the colder than normal side this week as the high Thursday should be around 25° and the low will dive into the single digits. Right now there is some disagreement among weather gurus as to what the weekend will bring but it looks like more wintry weather on Saturday.
You can tell that some of the ski areas are a bit "hung over" from the MLK weekend efforts as Hawksnest, Sapphire nor Wolf Ridge updated their report as yet on this Tuesday morning.
Check out these notes…
Appalachian Ski Mountain – The low was 18° and now it is 35° at 8am. They are 100% open and it should be phenomenal snow conditions today.
Cataloochee – It was 4° on Monday morning and now 32° 24 hours later. They are open til 10pm with 10 trails. Their tubing park is closed until Thursday.
Hawksnest – It’s 26° this morning and the snowguns are not going this AM. They have not filed a ski report with any reporting service since the 20th, so we THINK that they have the same 9 trails open and tubing today.
Sapphire Valley – No Reports since the 18th.
Ski Beech – The low was 19° at 12:41am and now 30° at 8am. They are making snow in selected areas and have 12 trails open.
Speaking of openings, Beech has announced that the RED BARON PARK TO OPEN FOR THE SEASON THURSDAY NIGHT!!!
They write, "This Thursday night Ski Beech is excited to open the new Red Baron Terrain Park for the 07/08 season. We will be hosting a FREE rail jam on our signature Lift Tower. On top of the rail jam we will have 12 new features highlighted in one of the smoothest layouts in the southeast. To celebrate this inaugural event, we will have $10 night lift tickets (1/24/07 only, available at Group Sales Office) and a raffle in the Beech Tree Restaurant. With some great prizes up for grabs, this is the perfect time to come check out all the hard work that has been going into our new terrain park!"
A list of their new features:
16’ Flat Box
24’ Flat Box
24’ Flat-Down Box
10’ Flat Rail
15’ Flat Rail
20’ Flat Rail
15’ Flat-Down-Flat rail
15’ A-Frame Rail
20’ Battleship Rail
Progression Picnic Table
55 Gallon Barrel Jib
15’ Culvert
33’ Lift Tower
Sugar Mountain – 17° was the low at midnight and now it is 29°. They have 19 of 20 trails open today, tubing and ice skating in their 10,000 sf rink.
Wolf Ridge – 35° at 8am and they have not updated their report so we suspect that they are skiing and riding on the same 7 trails.
Go enjoy the day and…THINK COLD AND SNOW!!!
Until Next Time…Send your comments, photos and videos to: [email protected]
For resort news, photos and videos from ALL of the Southeast and Mid Atlantic ski areas, visit www.SkiSoutheast.com
See You On The Slopes!