First, we’re not doing a tour of conditions at the resorts this morning so just click over to the slope reports page for all of the details on who is open with what terrain, etc.
Let’s get to the updated weather news for the period ahead – leading up and through Christmas. The short of it is that we’ll see a week of mild temps and maybe some light, drizzly, bothersome showers. However, we won’t see any kind of the slope damaging kind of rains that we witnessed last week. In other words, we’ll "weather" this week just fine and then the GOOD NEWS is that Christmas week looks COLD!
Meteorologist, Matthew East (pictured to the right) has provided his latest video forecast for the week ahead and he talks about the fact that its frigid west of us with highs in the zero degree range and Monday’s lows are in the teens to 20 degrees BELOW ZERO. That arctic air is going to make it into the area, but not as significantly as those of us in the Southeast would like. It will be somewhat wet this week with mild temps – some ten degrees above normal in many cases.
Next Weekend looks OKAY, but the great news is that there is a SECOND arctic blast coming and he feels that it should greatly affect our temperatures for Christmas week and that means COLD and maybe even some snow!
We’ll update things as we get closer, but for now…
Matthew East provides a nice video that tells us what to expect for the next week. Click here> Skier’s Forecast for the Mid Atlantic and Southeast Ski Resorts
FOR THIS WEEK, LOOK FOR SPRING LIKE WEATHER…
BUT IT IS SPRING!
The kind of weather that we’re experiencing right now tends to bring out a mean streak in a lot of you guys! Several emailers dropped us some depressing commentaries about how the weather is so fickle; how the weather of the last week (and the week ahead) are "killing" you; and that this week’s forecast looks more like a Spring weather pattern.
Well I have four words for you guys. IT STILL IS SPRING! We are still a week away from W-I-N-T-E-R and according to most weather gurus, the first week of winter is looking very promising.
Just bear in mind that we’ve had a GREAT start to the season. Conditions have been very nice – very early and it isn’t winter just yet. So just chill-lax!
WE CAN’T CONTROL SLOPE REPORTS VIA OTHER RESOURCES
As I said, you guys are in a bad mood this morning. I received five emails about the slope openings that WE are reporting as compared to what other sources are reporting. John E. of Nashville, Tennessee wrote, "Can I ask a question without appearing in your column? Why is it that your site seems to report different skislope numbers open for ski resorts than Snow Country and others? I am not complaining. I just wonder who is accurate. Thanks. John."
Before I answer your question, let me make a statement to preface my remarks. We go by an old adage around here of, "He who throws dirt, loses ground." It serves no purpose for us to attempt to build up our reputation by tearing down others. Nevertheless, we are asked this question, in one form or another, about twice a week. It is a slow news day, so there’s probably no better time than today to answer it.
Here’s your answer:
First, NO – you can not ask this kind of question without us posting it on the site. Of course, without your permission, we would not share your last name, although it rhymes with "Candy" and starts with a "G". (Gosh that was fun!)
Second, it’s "SnoCountry" not Snow Country, but we get the gist of your question. SkiSoutheast’s (and SkiNCs) Slope Report is compiled each morning and we do not look to other reporting services such as SnoCountry or even the Southeastern Ski Areas Association info because more times that not, there are errors within those reports. SnoCountry, OnTheSnow and other reporting services get their input in a different way than we do and they basically report what they are being told by (in some cases) third parties. About two-three times a week, we receive emails from you guys informing us that "this or that" service is reporting something different than we are – AND you guys always ask – "Who are we to rely on to provide accurate data?"
To answer that question as clearly as possible – SkiSoutheast.com’s slope report is compiled directly from the ski resorts that we cover AND through phone calls (when necessary). Often ski areas have not posted a report for a day or two – and unlike many services, we pick up the phone and call the resort and get an accurate report. While we all make mistakes, I can guarantee you that our reporting is FAR, FAR more accurate than any other resource that reports on this region.
I don’t want contradict our credo this morning so suffice to say that we begrudgingly looked at three other reportings services this morning and we’re not going to name names, but here is what we found JUST FOR TODAY…
One source is reporting 5 slopes open for App, when they actually have 8 open today. They are reporting 59-75" and they actually have a base of 45-69. They are reporting Hawksnest Tubing as open and they are now closed until Thursday.
By the way Appalachian told us that they have the AppalJack Terrain Park and Strudel closed for today for maintenance.
The same service is reporting 3 open trails for Sugar Mountain and the terrain park as open. They actually have 12 trails open today and NO terrain park. They are not showing anything for Wolf Ridge and Wolf has 5 trails open today.
They reported that Massanutten, Bryce and Wintergreen made snow overnight and at 44°+ I think not. They are reporting that Wintergreen Resort has 12 trails open and they only have 7 trails open today. They are also reporting tubing open and it isn’t.
They are reporting Canaan Valley as "reopening soon", when in fact they are open for day skiing today with 8 trails available.
For Snowshoe they are reporting packed powder, 1" of snow, that they made snow and have 27 trails open and tubing as well. Wellllll, they have wet packed and groomed conditions on 36 trails and tubing is not open. Oh yea, they didn’t make snow either.
Ober Gatlinburg has 12-18" base and they are reporting 20-25"
Another, highly respected service is reporting 10 trails open for App…
They are reporting that Sugar has 9 trails open – they have 12. They are reporting flurries for The Homestead (it’s 51°). They are reporting a 24-40" base for Wintergreen with 8 trails open and they have a 15-30" base with 7 trails available today.
They are reporting 34 trails for Snowshoe and they have 36.
I think that we’ll rest our case, your honor. Simply put – you can count on us to post THE MOST ACCURATE DATA every day. We’ll make a mistake now and then, but we’ll always give you guys our best.
SOME NEW FEATURES ARE COMING ONLINE!
We’re so far behind in getting all of our information online, but we’re getting close now! One new features that we’re pretty excited about are the new "virtual tours" of the ski areas! We just wrapped up the What’s New for 2008-2009 content for Wisp and we went ahead and added videos for their popular mountain coaster, Bear Claw Snow Tubing Park and more. These videos help to show newcomers and those who have never experienced our ski areas a little of what to expect when they get here. Of course nothing is like being there…but these new features are pretty cool.
Go see Wisp’s new content and look for each of the resort’s updates this week!
As always, be sure to click over to www.SkiSoutheast.com for more news about ALL of the ski resorts of the Southeast and Mid Atlantic including more photos of the day, more snow news, more videos…and just MORE!
Send your comments, photos, videos, and trip reports to: [email protected]