Up to 10-11″ of Snow Fell Across West Virginia Resorts and It’s Cold Everywhere!

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As has been the case most all season long, the rich get richer and the rest of us…well you know!

First of all, since we all live within the region and can travel to most any resort in the Southeast and Mid Atlantic within a 6 hour drive or so – we are ecstatic to report that some of the ski resorts saw as much as 10-11" of snow from the snowstorm of Sunday into this morning. Canaan Valley is reporting the most with 10-11" of snow and Timberline is right there with 9.3" of snowfall reported within the last 30 hours or so. Snowshoe is reporting 5-6" of snow thus far and ALL of those resorts are looking at 3-6" MORE snow today and additional accummulation all week.

(We’d mention Wisp but their website is down and our emails have gone unanswered so we have to think that they are having IT problems. We’ll catch you up on them later today.)

The snows of New England where up to two feet of snow has been wreaking havoc has obviously trickled down into the West Virginia and Maryland mountains as they have (yet again) seen the most snows in the Southeast and Mid Atlantic. That is normally the case, but NORMALLY the rest of us into the Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina mountain USUALLY get some decent snowfalls each season. So far this winter is going right according to Meteorologist Brad Panovich’s Winter Forecast that we posted back on November 8th, 2007. Within that forecast he predicted that the snowfall tallies would be inordinately biased this season with the "northern tier" of our coverage area (West Virginia and Western Maryland) getting good snows and the rest of the Southeast and Mid Atlantic would have to depend on good snowmaking temps.

Check his winter forecast out and tell ME if he’s not been accurate thus far. Click here> Southeast Skier’s Winter Forecast for 2007-2008

As he predicted, and as witnessed from even this most recent storm, West Virginia and Maryland are getting it and the rest of us are seeing a trace to maybe an inch.

The great news is that ALL of our ski areas are looking sweeter by the day right now.

See the summary below:

Snowshoe Mountain is reporting 11° this morning and 4" more snow on top of the 1" they reported AM Monday so that’s 5" of snow from this storm with another 3-5" more expected today. They have now seen 54" on the season! Snow is in the forecast through Saturday so expect a perfect week and weekend of skiing and snowboarding at Snowshoe!

Laura Parquette of Snowshoe writes, "It’s going to be a POWDER DAY! We have 45 trails open today. Sawmill run will be closed today, as our snowmakers go the extra mile to make sure it is in perfect condition for MLK weekend. Our base is 2-3 feet across the mountain, Silver Creek has some of the best conditions available and the tubing hill and night skiing and riding are both open…Now really is the time to get in your car and get up here!"

Hey Laura, that’s MY line. Okay you can use it!

Canaan Valley is getting dumped on! According to their faxed snow report and their own website updates, they have seen 10-12" of snow in the last 48 hours! Their reports are a bit conflicting with one reporting 6-8" on Monday, and 10-12" from the storm thus far…and their website says 6-8" and 9-11" from the storm. Regardless, that’s a lot of snow! They are expected to see another 4-6" of snow today and throughout the week. Canaan Valley is reporting 56" of snow on the season thus far.

We are trying to get Coop up there to send us some photos and we’ll share those when we get them! They have 9 trails open today and their tubing hill is closed for snowmaking.

Timberline is reporting an official 9.3" of snow from yesterday and a region leading 60" of snow on the season. They have 13 trails open today and more will open soon. Breona Hall sent us some great pics from yesterday and we’ll share those in just a bit.

Winterplace Resort picked up another 1" of snow (2" from the storm) and they are making snow as well. Winterplace wrote, "Awesome skiing and boarding with more snow on the way! The snowtubing park will be closed Wednesday, January 16, 2008 for snowmaking and grooming."

Wintergreen Resort in Virginia is estatic to be making snow and they have been blasting the slopes with the return of frigid temps and with automated York snowmaking system! They offer 8 trails today and more will open soon. Anne Marie Jones from Wintergreen wrote, "With cold air our fully automated YORK snowmaking system can produce amazing results. Make plans to visit over the MLK holiday and enjoy some great skiing, riding and tubing!"

She sent us an awesome shot of their grooming that was the Photo of the Day yesterday. Be sure to check that out by clicking here> Wintergreen Ski Resort Photos 

Bryce Resort made snow and has the same 7 of 8 trails, snowtubing and terrain park open. Fans of Bryce should make plans to head that way this week as they are experience the best conditions of the season right now according to Ryan Locher.

Massanutten saw another TRACE of snow and they are making snow as well. Steve Showalter reports that they will be opening more trails by the weekend. Today they offer 6 trails and 5 lanes of snow tubing fun!

Kathy Doyle of Ober Gatlinburg reports that they have added one more open trail to their terrain offerings. That is now 5 trails and more will open before the weekend with ongoing snowmaking ops! 

<Cloudmont grooms snow and looks pretty good on January 8th.

For those "Mont Fans", Cloudmont in Alabama HAS been open for a couple of days this season. This is a photo showing some grooming going on January 8th. They made snow last night and should tonight and will probably reopen on Wednesday.

NORTH CAROLINA RESORT REPORT…

A moderate bit of snow is falling as I post this morning’s update. Forecasters are calling for more snow throughout the week and into the weekend, but only the higher elevations are expected to see any real accummulations (1-4") and for the rest of us is seems to be one of those systems that brings us snow 5 days in a row and we have an inch on the ground.

<App’s Stair Hit is up and ready for you to hit!

Appalachian Ski Mountain is reporting 16° and they made snow, saw a trace of additional snow and still have the 8 of 10 trails open for today. They made snow overnight but are NOT making snow now.

Cataloochee is reporting 20° and they have opened 2 added trails from yesterday and now offer 7 of 14 for day and night skiing. Tubing will be closed until Thursday. They made snow and still are as of this morning.

Hawksnest Ski Resort is a cold 13° this morning and they made snow and still are. They still have the same 6 of 12 trails open, and offer tubing for today as well. They report that more slopes will open soon.

Ski Beech is reporting 16° earlier this morning, however at 8am our weather station up there is showing 10.6° and a wind chill of MINUS 8.9°. They are blasting this slopes with machine made powder and reported a dusting of snow with snow flurries at 8am as well. They have the same 5 of 15 trails open as offered on Monday. More will open soon though. They will be making snow so take your goggles. Their ice rink is open as well.

Sugar Mountain is showing 14.2° as a low this morning and 15.4° at 8am so they are about 5° "warmer" than the top of Beech Mountain right now. They are offering the same 12 of 20 trails as offered on Monday and will open tubing at noon. They also have their 10,000 sf ice rink open today. They are making snow.

Wolf Ridge is at 24° this morning and although no report has been posted on their website we called over there and they are reporting the same 10-38" base, groomed conditions and they are making snow and open with the same 6 of 20 trails today.

WEBCAMS, PHOTOS AND VIDEO…

We mentioned it yesterday afternoon but the webcams were being flooded with visitors yesterday and they and our photos of the day offer the best way to get a glimpse of what conditions really look like before you head up or make a choice as to where the best conditions are. Check out more information about our cameras, etc by clicking here> Ski Resort Live Cameras!

Our weather forecasters are telling us to expect these days of snow to be relatively uneventful for our North Carolina Mountains. We saw from 1-2" of snow Sunday into Monday morning and a dusting overnight. We’re ssing some light snow flurries this morning and the forecast is for the higher elevations to see maybe an inch of snow and a dusting for the rest of us.

As it looks right now the "more significant chances for snow on the weekend" are now gone. Go figure! It’s been that way for two years now!

We should see some snow falling from the sky Thursday as a mix from snow to freezing rain to snow should fall Thursday and Thursday night into Friday. We may see snow showers on and off all Friday and Friday night into Saturday morning but the call from most weather gurus is for these several days of snow to bring us a TOTAL accummulation of around 2-4" of snow at the higher elevations and nothing more than "ambience snow" for the rest of us.

The TRUTH is that all ski area management teams will tell you that they’d RATHER have the effect snow than a dumping that makes it hard for you guys to get here…so they’re getting their wish.

The great news is that the temps ARE staying with us. Highs in the teens, 20s and 30s for the entire forecast period through Monday at least. Lows in the teens, 20s and as low as 5° over the weekend.

So if you’ve been holding out for great ski conditions and some snowy weather…bring it on…the resort of your choice will be in primo condition for this MLK weekend.

We will continue to monitor which resorts are opening more terrain but expect that to be all of them…so stay tuned…and for today…bundle up and wear your goggles!

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!

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