That is the message of the day today and really this week as Appalachian Ski Mountain, Beech Mountain Resort, Cataloochee Ski Area and Sugar Mountain Resort all “Suspended operations due to weather”.
That leaves the number of ski areas open in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic to ZERO at least for this week. All of those ski areas and those who are now in “ready mode” to make snow and open or re-open for the season are now simply waiting on cold weather and maybe even a little assistance in the form of natural snow.
Appalachian and Cataloochee looked good enough on Saturday that they could have possibly been open today, but we are now receiving yet another round of soaking rains and those moderate to heavy rains are forecasted to last through Wednesday.
So no skiing or snowboarding for this week unless things turn cold enough to make snow and reopen on Friday or Saturday. The chances for snowmaking look pretty good for Wednesday through Saturday nights as lows are predicted to dip into the mid-to-upper 20s across most of the mountains. There’s even a chance for around-the-clock snowmaking Wednesday night, most of the day on Thursday and then Thursday night. That well-timed cold snap could get some ski areas re-opened by this weekend and potentially even Friday.
We’ll see.
As has happened for the entire month of November, I received yet another powder alert from the Vail Resorts with 8″ at Vail, 8″ at Beaver Creek, 3″ at Keystone and 3″ at Breck – all in the last 24 hours. So if you just have to do some skiing or riding this week, you’ll need to head to Colorado.
Winter Will Come…
As our buddy Joe Stevens reminded us on Sunday, winter will come. If you didn’t catch his “Snow News is Good News” column, here it is.
It was cool reading the part where he and numerous other Snowshoe Mountain personnel were all over in Elkins watching a movie in mid-December because the weather wasn’t cooperating just yet. That was a little before my time, because I can tell you that in my twenty seasons of covering all of the Southeast and mid-Atlantic ski resort news – I have not seen it where ski areas couldn’t open until mid-to-perhaps-late December.
We’ve definitely covered seasons that started slow and then boomed. We’ve experienced fast starts and then poor late December and Holiday conditions. I just don’t remember seeing a weather pattern quite like this one.
Looking at the calendar and the related weather forecast for the next 15 days – we may get some snowmaking in this mid-week and we’ll probably see a ski area or two or three re-open for Friday and this weekend. Temperature beyond Sunday LOOK very promising but also very borderline with lows in the low 30s. A degree or two either way would mean the difference in increasing some base depths and “suspending operations” again.
With that “iffy” forecast, we’re closing in on mid-December so hopefully the weather will take a turn for extreme cold and lots of snow from then through Christmas so that this Holiday ski period is a great one for all concerned. Keep visiting us and we’ll update you guys with the latest.
So the message for today and this week?
#THINKCOLD
#THINKSNOW
Enjoy your day and THINK SNOW! THINK COLD!
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