G’day Mates! My drive to work this morning was just a little hairy. What started out as just a bit of sleet and snow very, very early this morning has changed into a nasty misting rain. The roads would be in pretty decent shape if we could stick with the sleet and snow which leave a little crunchiness on the surface. It’s the misting rain that can freeze and get dangerous. Judging by some of the weather info floating around out there, Snowshoe and the surrounding areas may very well pull down another six to eight inches of snow through tonight. Mike says, "Snowshoe might be getting dumped on again." That’s pretty awesome!! Some ski areas, namely Canaan, Timberline, and Beech Mountain already have over 50 inches of natural snowfall on the year, and those totals are certainly going to increase!
I’ve received several good responses from you guys about being On-Snow Reporters this season, and I’m hoping the interest continues. I’m starting to get some really awesome photos, and I’ll be posting a bunch of those today! Big thanks today to Kevin McNamara, "jamsandwich," for sending in two great trip reports on Appalachian and Sugar. Keep it coming guys! I was super pumped this morning when I was checking email at 6:30 am to find I already have some great stuff filtering in!
Brad Panovich plans to send us a forecast later tonight that will give us some more insight into the next storm that is headed this way tomorrow, so be sure to check back for that tomorrow!
Here’s what’s going on around North Carolina….
Appalachian – 20°- Slightly warmer today. Appalachian is open with 12 of 12 slopes running all 5 lifts. Appalachian offers reduced rates to area students and teachers out of school due to weather, very cool! This gives some kids the chance to get out there and shred when they might not otherwise be able to!
Beech Mountain – 30°- OPEN! New Terrain today. The Beech Mountain team says, "On Thursday December 16, 2010, Beech Mountain Resort will open Upper White Lightning and Upper Southern Star, bringing our total number of open trails to 14. Remember, $15 lift tickets and $15 ski rentals on snow days are available to teachers and students whose school is closed due to snow."
Cataloochee – 37°- OPEN! 100% of Cataloochee is open this morning! According to Tammy Brown this is the earliest ever 100% opening of the mountain, that’s 16 trails running on 3 lifts. Hats of to Mother Nature and snowmaking ops for getting the mountain open for all of us to enjoy!
Sugar Mountain – 33°- OPEN! Skiing and snowboarding on 17 of 20 slopes. NO new snowfall but conditions are excellent!
Wolf Ridge Resort – 34°- Open today on 11 of 20 trails with 2 lifts. The Wolf Ridge peeps say, "We are making snow on the majority of the closed part of the mountain and will open the upper lodge and those ski runs and lifts this weekend." Also open for tubing!
For more information on ALL of the ski resorts of the Southeast and Mid Atlantic – visit www.SkiSoutheast.com
THINK COLD! THINK SNOW!
We urge you to visit:
www.HighCountryWebCams.com
www.HighCountryWeather.com
Send your comments, photos, videos and trip reports to: [email protected] or [email protected]