Southeast and Mid Atlantic Ski Areas Get Much Needed Cold and Some Snow to Boot!

I am late posting this morning, because everytime I’d get back to my keyboard to finish up, I’d get another call asking about how much snow we received. I am going to ramble a bit today and post as much as possible…as quickly as possible. So here we go. It looks like our buddy Brad Panovich came closer than any of the other meteorologists in forecasting substantial snowfall from this weekend’s storm.

Earlier in the week Brad predicted 2-4" for the Western North Carolina mountains (100% accurate) and more substantial snows for West Virginia and Maryland. Within his skier’s forecast video he said that Snowshoe and Wisp might see a foot of snow…and that if things fell into place that snow may be measured in feet. Well, as our buddy Joe Stevens reported in his weekly column, he may have been a bit overzealous on that, but Snowshoe did get 8" of snow and it is STILL snowing up that way today. Area’s north of that DID get pounded. So we’ll grade his forecast out as a "B".

SNOW CLOUD HOVERING OVER THE MOUNTAINS…

I was driving up to the mountains from Columbia, SC yesterday after they saw nearly 3" of much needed rain. There was not a cloud in the sky and the temperature was 54° as I drove up I-26 and hit Hwy 221 in Spartanburg. Crystal blue skies were the norm around Rutherfordton in North Carolina and 44°. Chilly with perfectly clear skies.

As I drove through Linville Falls around 1pm there was very light flurries but mostly sunny skies and the temp was 38. I could see a bank of clouds up ahead and though to myself that it might be snowing in my beloved mountains, but also suspected that it would not be for long, because I could SEE the crystal blue skies right behind the bank of clouds that hovered over the ridge ahead.

Linville was snowy and white with moderate snow and 30°. Then came Banner Elk at Tynecastle. I looked at my car thermometer and could not believe that it had dropped that fast in such a short three miles. It was snowing hard with about an inch on the ground and 23°. Down the hill on Hwy 105 into Foscoe the temp rose to 25° but it was still snowing pretty hard.

I fully expected the snow to stop at anypoint as you could see the sun trying to peak through the snow at 4pm. However that never happened and evidently that bank of clouds reinforced themselves and the mountain ridges around here wrenched every ounce of snow possible from them and the High Country is looking at its first substantial snowfall of the 2007-2008 season with Beech and Sugar seeing about 4-5" of snow and Appalachian and Hawksnest showing 3-4".

This morning’s low temp was 9° at Ski Beech and as you might expect snowmaking is in progress all across the region as the best snowmaking weather of the season is here.

CHECK THE SLOPE CONDITIONS PAGE FOR ALL OF THE RESORT BY RESORT SNOWFALL TOTALS AND TRAIL OPENINGS DATA…

Here’s some notables:

Appalachian Ski Mountain was at 17° at 8am with 3" of new snowfall.

Cataloochee reported a trace of new snow.

Hawksnest was at 12° with 3-4" of new snow. They plan to reopen mid week.

Sugar Mountain reported 9° and 4-5" of new snow. They ramped up to 7 trails open.

Ski Beech was at 9° with right at 5" of new snow. They plan on reopening on Tuesday.

Wolf Ridge reported a trace of new snow and plan on reopening mid week.

NONE of the Virginia resorts reported any snowfall…as it appears that they received merely a dusting of natural snow, however all of the resorts blasted the slopes with machine made snow.

As usual the West Virginia mountains picked up a lot of snow. Snowshoe Mountain received 8" of new snow and that takes them to 34" on the season. They have 28 trails open today, snow tubing and their terrain parks are operating.

Laura Parquette wrote, "Fresh powder returns to Snowshoe! More than 8" of fresh snow have fallen on the resort since Sunday afternoon. The powder coats the mountains 28 open trails–the most open terrain in the region! Skiing and riding are available on almost 50% of Snowshoe’s slopes, from the basin area to the South Mountain area, and of course the Silve Creek area, which opened last Friday. Snow is expected to continue throughout the morning, and cold temperatures will allow snowmaking to continue to compliment what Mother Nature has provided. Snowmaking has occured for just about 24 hours, and is expected to continue throughout the day. More natural snow is expected on Wednesday, and will be a great addition to the base already found on Snowshoe’s three new slopes in the South Mountain area, which are scheduled to open this Friday."

Timberline Resort reported 6" of new snow and 31" on the season. They have 4 trails open, but expect more soon!

Winterplace got in on the action this weekend with 5" of new snow and that takes them to 15" of snow on the season. They resumed skiing and riding today with 4 trails.

Wisp Resort in Maryland received 4" of new snow and 18" on the season. They have the second most terrain open in the region with 19 trails today.

More Trail Reports, Photos and Videos will be posted today…check back!

CLOSING NOTES:

I wanted to thank Mark Riddell for his story posted this morning. He’s a young guy who may provide the site with a bit of a different, youthful slant on things. We hope to hear more from Mark this winter. He had some good comments in his first offering which appears on the front page this morning.

Be sure to also read Joe Knows Snow story this morning which appears on the front page a well.

Until Next Time…Send your comments, photos and videos to: [email protected]  

See You On The Slopes!