Here’s a teaser… You’re going to see something happen for the first time this "season" later today. You’ll have to read a bit more to see what we’ll witness today.
Before we get to that last night was ONE NASTY NIGHT here in the High Country of Western North Carolina! Some very heavy rain fell, and some howling winds roared. Ditto that pretty much anywhere you look across the Southeast and Mid Atlantic. We’re not out of the winds and rains just yet. However these gusty winds are delivery a clearing blow to the rains and delivering much colder air just behind it. The forecast for today for pretty much the entire coverage area of SkiSoutheast.com is for more rain today – until about 2pm or so. More importantly, at about that same time, we’ll see the temperatures begin a steep nosedive. The winds will be gusty all day and into this evening. …and the temperatures?
Areas at the top of what makes up the Southeastern Ski Areas (West Virginia and Maryland) will see some scattered snow showers and lows around 16 degrees! Winds will still be howling near 30 mph overnight. However, then Saturday will be Partly cloudy, with a high near 32. West wind between 10 and 15 mph. Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 23. West wind between 5 and 9 mph.
While things won’t be quite as frigid as we move south into Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina – they WILL BE cold enough to make snow! Look for a low of around 25° Friday night in the High Country with 20-30 mph winds. Saturday will mild up to 42° but the Saturday night low will again be near 26°. Sunday will be somewhat colder and Monday through Thursday of next week look like SNOWMAKING TEMPERATURES AROUND THE CLOCK!
So have you figured out what the teaser was about? At some point over the next 18-24 hours you will see every ski area in the Southeast and Mid Atlantic making snow! Snowmaking crews are crouched down in a sprinter’s starting position, ready to throw the switches on every gun available. This will be the first time this 2006-2007 season that we will have reported that.
Snowshoe Mountain is so excited that they have already (at 8am this morning) posted a front page graphic on their website that reports, "Now open with Full Throttle Snowmaking!" That IS the story of the day! Mother Nature is finally deciding to creep on down into the high elevations of the Southeast and Mid Atlantic and that is WONDERFUL NEWS for skiers and riders here in the region. With the kind of temperatures that are being forecasted for the region from tonight through late next week, you will see some nice, skiable terrain at Cataloochee and Snowshoe by late Saturday and into Sunday…and at the rest of the resorts as each opens or reopens within a day or so of that. In other words, expect more resorts to open Sunday, Monday and at least by Friday, December 8th with very nice, white, SWEET, manmade snow!
So in no time at all, this yucky rain will be history and we’ll have some nice terrain to ride!
CONTESTS AND GIVEAWAYS WILL DEBUT TODAY!
We’ll be posting all of the vacation giveaways and free ticket availability later today. Here’s another teaser. This season SkiNC’ers and SkiSoutheast’ers will be enjoying more than $40,000.00 worth of free vacations and free lift passes! We’ll be giving two or three vacations away on MONDAY so be sure to check back later in the day and be among the first to enter!
Until Next time…
Be sure to visit www.SkiSoutheast.com for more stories and skiing in the Southeast!
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