Its HUMP Day and many people are considering heading to their favorite hill for the weekend. That has prompted several people to email us about this weekend’s weather forecast. We ran all of the zip codes for the entire region and consulted with a few of our trusty meteorologist buddies and things look basically the same across the entire Southeast and Mid Atlantic from Garrett County, Maryland all the way down to Sapphire Valley in North Carolina.
A weak front IS headed our way but according to all of the experts it will rain itself out prior to hitting our high elevations. They say to expect lots of cloud cover for Saturday and Sunday and some slight chances of a shower here and there, but not a lot in the way of rain (or under-developed snow as Joe Stevens likes to call it). The National Weather Service is saying that we should all see some scattered Spring-like showers (30-40% chance) both days. Of course, that means that there’s a 60-70% chance that it won’t. I’m not sure why that never seems to apply. Sometimes I wonder if those percentages more accurately dictate how much of the DAY it will rain.
The bottom line is that this weekend DOES look a little drizzly, but it should be pretty decent, so if you’ve been wavering on coming or if you already have plans, keep them. The snow will be GREAT, the temps in the 30s and 40s and no crowds or lift lines.
Regardless of precipitation chances for this weekend, a gradual warming trend is in the works through the weekend and into next week.
SNOW AND GREAT BASE DEPTHS
There’s not a LOT to report on this breezy Wednesday morning so we updated the SLOPE CONDITIONS page early this morning and have provided a brief rundown of the conditions and notes that we were able to compile for across the entire Southeast and Mid Atlantic. We’ve provided those this morning from North to South basically so take a quick glance and go hit the slopes! Conditions are going to primo for today and Thursday!
Ski Beech, Sugar Mountain and Snowshoe Mountain were the three resorts that made snow overnight last night so expect some fresh manmade powder at all three.
Base depths in Maryland and West Virginia continue to go up as do their seasonal snowfall totals. Wisp received 3” of new snow in the last 24 hours and the West Virginia resorts saw an 1”. Conditions are about as good as things can get right now. Who’s afraid of a silly groundhog! Try telling Garrett County residents that Spring is right around the corner!
Here’s some highlights:
Wisp Resort – 18° – 3” of new snow and still snowing. 30 trails open today with Powder and Packed Powder conditions. 108” on the season (8” over their normal annual snowfall) and more than 3 weeks of the season still left!
Canaan Valley – 20° – 1” of new snow and 128” on the season. David Cooper from up at Canaan sent me some great photos of the Wild Thing weekend that just went down. We’ll post those today. Canaan Valley has 37 trails of Powder and Packed Powder available today!
Snowshoe Mountain – 26° – Lindsay Kutsko wrote, “It’s snowing up here on the mountain this morning with an inch of accumulation overnight and 3 more expected throughout the day today. All trails are open and the only three not groomed include Knot Bumper, Knot Bumper Glades and Lower Shay’s Revenge. We continued to make snow last night and the base is 54" – 70" with groomed packed powder surface conditions.”
Timberline Resort – 19° – 2” of new snow and a region leading 128.5” on the season. (Basically the same as their sister resort located one ridgetop over in Canaan Valley.) Timberline has had a great season and conditions are very nice this morning with 37 trails.
Winterplace Resort – They didn’t pick up the snowfall that the other WV resorts did and they are reporting Loose Granular conditions on 28 trails today.
The Virginia Resorts (Bryce, Massanutten and The Homestead) all remained totally unchanged over the last few days. No moves in base depths, no changes in slope openings, no snowmaking, and no natural snow. Conditions are “fabulous” though according to Wintergreen Resort’s, Sarah Lovejoy. She writes, “Fabulous conditions and plenty of snow so come ski and ride midweek! Today, we will be skiing and riding on 25 trails with a machine groomed surface and there will be 4 lifts running. We plan to ski and ride through Sunday, March 25th, if not later. Please check this report prior to your visit for the most up to date snow and slope information.”
Ober Gatlinburg – 38° – Ober has 6 trails open today and are planning on ending their season on March 11th (this Sunday). Rain is in the forecast for this weekend, so get over to Gatlinburg and enjoy some good conditions for the next couple of days.
Appalachian Ski Mountain – 35° – They did not make snow, but have laid down some nice corduroy on all 10 trails.
Cataloochee – 31° – 100% open with Groomed conditions on 12 trails.
Ski Beech – 38° – The temp overnight at one point was down to 27° and Beech made snow which will make for very nice conditions on their 14 trails today.
Sugar Mountain – 37° – Same thing with Sugar. At one point the low was around 30° and allowed for some snowmaking. Sugar has 20 trails open with what could be the longest surface conditions statement that we’ve seen this season. They are reporting Manmade Powder/Frozen & Loose Granular for conditions. Go Gunther! Sugar really HAS done a great job of providing dead-on conditions reporting all season long. Several Trip reporters have written nothing but high praise for snow quality as well.
Cloudmont in Alabama is closed after having 3/4th of a trail open on Tuesday. Someone actually brought it to my attention on Tuesday that Alabama had a ski area open on Tuesday and there were two North Carolina resorts that were closed!
Until Next Time…
THINK COLD AND SNOW!!!
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For more information about the ski resorts of the Southeast and Mid Atlantic visit www.SkiSoutheast.com
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