Up to 10 inches of Snow Fell to Our North / NC, TN and VA Resorts Made Snow!

The top news for today will be THE WEATHER.  You guys who are moaning and groaning about the mild temps into North Carolina …not so fast guys and girls.  Yes, we’re in a mild patch right now but according to some of the weather gurus out there, winter is not over just yet.  Actually last March is when we had a fast and furious finish and received most of our better snows. None of the forecasters can accurately foretell that far ahead, but that does give us hope for some more wintry weather ahead.  Actually several forecasters are saying that we should get back to winter-like temperatures and some snow by Sunday night and into Monday.  It’s a little early for that, but we’re watching it for you.

This zany winter that we’ve been in HAS been a productive one in terms of allowing for nice slope conditions at most all of the Southeast’s resorts for the entire 2005-2006 season. While we have seen 7-10 days of sketchy conditions at the NC resorts, the REST of the season has been great…with better than GOOD conditions for the entire winter.  Right now we’re experiencing another stretch of weird weather because while we here in the higher elevations of North Carolina are experiencing a taste of Spring today through Friday…the ski resorts into West Virginia and Maryland are getting SNOW and a fair bit of it.

That’s not good enough for you?  Try WISP RESORT I Maryland .  They received TEN INCHES of snow over the last 24+ hours!  TEN INCHES!  The temperature there this morning is 17° which is 15° colder than Ski Beech with its elevations of some 1400 feet HIGHER than that of Wisp.  By the way the 10” of snow yesterday has taken Wisp up to 109” on the season.

Compare that to 40° this morning at Appalachian and even 31° at Ski Beech this morning and you can see why WEATHER is the zany topic of the day!  Weird stuff here!

PLENTY OF SNOW AND GOOD CONDITIONS EVERYWHERE —

We know that we’re going to get the “is there any snow left” emails so in some silly attempt to ward off as many of them as possible — THERE IS PLENTY OF SNOW ON ALL THE SLOPES AT ALL OF THE RESORTS!!! (The photo to the right was taken this morning at 8:45am from the Hawksnest LIVE CAM!)

As we have said numerous times this season, this has been a season of perfect timing from Old Man Winter.  Because of that all of the resorts are looking quite fine.  Certainly those into Maryland and West Virginia are in pristine shape today.  They have to be the pick of the week right now regarding where to go for winter fun.  However, all of the resorts into Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina are looking quite fine. There is plenty of side-to-side snow base on ALL trails and the surface conditions will range from groomed and relatively SWEET early today — to more loose granular as the sun and temps take effect.

Ski Beech and Cataloochee MADE SNOW last night so they will be the top picks in the state today.  Beech’s colder overnight temps will make for very nice conditions today.  The temperatures up at Hawksnest this morning was 35° and one look at the LIVE CAMERA up there will make you ready to click in and jump on the slopes!  The view this morning was one that inspires and OH MY GOSH expression!

So don’t fall prey to some of the television people in your neck of the woods that too often make comments during mild stretches like this saying, “The ski resorts won’t fare to well during these kinds of temperatures…”, because that isn’t the case at all!  Conditions will be VERY NICE TODAY.  I repeat – VERY NICE here in the North Carolina Mountains .  Look for about the same kind of conditions with maybe a little milder temps into Tennessee and Virginia .  However ALL of the resorts in Virginia made snow and even with a bit milder temps for today – expect VERY NICE conditions on the slopes.  As the day warms up, expect loose granular conditions and some bumps due to skier traffic pushing the manmade around.

If you’re hitting the slopes of the West Virginia resorts today you’re in for a grand time!  Canaan Valley reported in with SIX INCHES of snow on Monday; Snowshoe reported 5” and Timberline Resort matches Canaan ’s six inches!  Conditions in WV will be Wild and Wonderful as they like to say. You gotta hand it to them, they have had a great weather winter thus far.

I was able to experience Wisp Resort at Deep Creek first hand back in January and I know that Lori Epp, Kelli Johnson, Michael Valach and all of Tim Prather’s crew have to loving the way that Winter has seemingly appreciate all of the investment that they’ve put in up there. They have had an awesome winter thus far and things look to be continuing.  Conditions at Wisp today may be the best in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic!

Check the Slope Conditions and get out and enjoy what should be a great day of skiing today.

Until Next Time!

Be sure to check out www.SkiSoutheast.com  for more news and stories for all of the Southeast’s ski areas.

Be sure to email photos, snow reports and comments to: [email protected]