Nina Breed from SkiSoutheast is playing at Appalachian Ski Mountain; Kenny Griffin is at Massanutten Resort and it’s SNOWING at Beech Mountain as of this post (updated 11am).
Photo of the Day is from atop Beech Mountain LIVE with SNOW!
Check the SNOW REPORT for all the deets… There is a LOT of news to share, including some interesting data. Be sure to scroll below these preliminary notes.
IT’S SNOWING PRETTY HARD NOW AT BEECH MOUNTAIN! WATCH IT LIVE!
Watch the VIDEO SNOW REPORT
A NEW FEATURE FOR SKISOUTHEAST
Most visitors who come up and enjoy all of the activities at our various ski areas only get one side of what goes on and happens at their favorite resorts.
For more than 24 years, I have had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with all of our ski industry professionals at the ski areas of the Southeast and mid-Atlantic. That has always afforded me more perspective on the people behind the scenes – who make all that fun possible.
Beginning today, SkiSoutheast will now be featuring interviews with various ski resort owners, mountain ops, marketing contacts and some of the more interesting characters who make everything GO. We’ll be conducting these features as often as possible for the rest of this season and we have some additional new and exciting features to announce soon.
Today, we begin this new feature with a quick an informal chat with Appalachian Ski Mountain’s owner, Brad Moretz.
Check it out:
On Facebook:
YouTube:
Couple of notables:
Appalachian Ski Mountain is 100% OPEN. 12 slopes
Bryce Resort is 100% OPEN. 8 slopes
Cataloochee Ski Area is 100% OPEN. 18 slopes
As I was looking at the temperatures at 7am this morning it was 25° at Beech, 29° at Ober Gatlinburg and 36° at Canaan…just weird!
Omni Homestead Resort – Tubing and mini snowmobiles are now open! Plus, they’re back open to the top for skiing and snowboarding.
BEST SUGAR MOUNTAIN NEWS…
They are making snow on Oma’s (the old Big Red trail) at Sugar Ski & CC for the first time this season! That will be great news for those guests looking to ski in and ski out.
Was it an Omen?
As the rain was FINALLY exiting the High Country on Friday evening, I was heading down Hwy 105 towards Valle Crucis and saw this cool rainbow! Was it a sign up better winter weather (luck) ahead?
SUMMIT PROMO
Guys – we are now accepting bookings to attend this year’s SkiSoutheast Summit at Snowshoe.
CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW TO JOIN US AND GET 15%-20% OFF LODGING; FREE SUNDAY LIFT PASSES; SUNDAY FIRST TRACKS and GIVEAWAYS!
…AND NOW TO THE MAIN NEWS SHARE OF THE DAY! (As if we haven’t already provided a ton!)
This past WEEK was basically a mirror of what this entire Winter has been thus far. This past week provided frigid cold temperatures in the single digits on three of the last seven nights and we also saw lows temperatures in the mid 30s and 40s across the region. We had measurable snowfall on four of the last seven days – though those four snows amounted to not much more than an inch or two at various resorts.
I woke up to a surprise inch of snow twice this last week….and it’s puking snow right now! View www.ResortCams.com
…and we also had way too damn much underdeveloped snow – RAIN – as we collected data for rainfall amounts like these across the region on Friday and into Friday night:
2.20″ – Seven Devils, NC
1.66″ – Appalachian Ski Mountain
1.55″ – Sugar Mountain Resort
1.24″ – Banner Elk, NC
1.10″ – Wintergreen Resort
1.00″ – Massanutten Resort
1.00″ – Beech Mountain Resort
0.99″ – Bryce Resort
0.98″ – Canaan Valley Resort
0.86″ – Snowshoe Mountain
0.83″ – Winterplace Resort
0.80″ – Wisp Resort
0.62″ – Cataloochee Ski Area
0.27″ – Ober Gatlinburg
0.23″ – Wolf Ridge Resort
I received this meme on Friday that found it’s way around ski-related news websites. Seems we’re ALL feeling the same way on the Eastern Seaboard. Ski the East started this particular meme.
Will it EVER Deliver?
I was speaking with two different meteorologists on Friday and one shared that we’ve already seen four rain events this winter where rain totals exceeded 1.50″ in a short 10-18 hour period. Two of those exceeded 2″ and 4.10″ of rain fell at Appalachian Ski Mountain on January 11th.
Those four rain events in portions of Western North Carolina adds up to 9.25″ of rain in just those four days. Using the 8 to 1 rain-to-snow ratio, that would have been 74″ of snow if we would have had 30° or colder temperatures.
SPEAKING OF TEMPERATURES…AND WILD & WOOLLY WEATHER SWINGS
How about 4-6° temperatures earlier this week and now, along with Friday’s rain we saw 40° temps Friday morning.
This morning things are chilly back down as I saw temps in the 20s at many locations and some snowmaking happening – as I saw going on at Beech, Cataloochee and Sugar at 7:30am.
NEW CAMS AT CANAAN VALLEY RESORT
I guess you can blame the Friday rainfall on ResortCams and Canaan Valley Resort, because I would LOVE to know how many times we have added a brand new webcam only to see rain come in either that day or the next.
However, the GREAT NEWS is that we have brand new cameras (two of them) at Canaan Valley Resort. They/we replaced the one at the base and also added a new, mid-station camera. NOW, we just need some snow to pretty up those views! View the new cams and all ski cams at: RESORTCAMS.COM
WHERE’S THAT SNOW WE WERE HEARING ABOUT?
Back to the subject of that meme. Just 48 hours or so ago we were hearing that our mountaintops could see 2-3″ of snow in the NC mountains and more, the further north you go. Perhaps 4-5″ in portions of Virginia and as much as 8-12″ or so into WV and Maryland.
Where did THAT go?
The latest forecast, according to the NWS is for 3-4″ of snow MAYBE up around Snowshoe, Canaan Valley and Wisp Resort.
They are not even issuing a Winter Weather Advisory! Maybe an inch or so today; Another inch or so Sunday and some snow showers into Monday.
Obviously, WV seems to wrench out as much snow out of any system as possible…but the forecast sounds like a “BUST” compared to what we were seeing just a day or so ago.
We’re seeing basically the same forecast into areas like Beech Mountain, Sugar Mountain and WNC – but with perhaps 2-4″ of snow accumulating over the Saturday to Monday night stretch.
WE’LL SEE I GUESS.
I still have faith that those collective prayers for SNOW and COLD temps are headed our way! I DID receive a few emails about issuing a call to arms for those SNOW DANCES. On Friday evening, my own family charged me with the task of building a new, wooden snowman JUST SO WE COULD BURN IT – with the hope of rallying some cold and snowy weather.
We are seeing some additional chances of SNOW even into the middle of next week AND the temperatures should allow for SNOW MAKING on SIX of the next SIX nights – so we’ve got THAT going for us…which is nice. (Insert the voice of Bill Murray.)
OKAY, THAT’S ENOUGH MEH…LET’S GET TO SOME POSITIVITY…
APP SKI MOUNTAIN is celebrating local, snowboarder Luke Winkelmann of the X Games with an X-Games Watch Party Weekend
JAN 24 – 26
Appalachian Ski Mtn. is excited to partner with Red Bull to bring guests an immersive on-snow Winter X-Games viewing experience Friday, January 24 – Sunday January 26. ASM will have an area setup at the bottom of lift #2 that will have an inflatable screen, music from the Red Bull event car, and more!
Luke is the snowboarding phenom from Blowing Rock, North Carolina who is currently starring in the X Games circuit.
SKISOUTHEAST SUMMIT TIME
That will do it for today.
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