MAN! THIS IS MORE LIKE IT!!!
Here we are on the last day of the year – the Mayan calendar that is – on what some soft-brained people would tell you is the last day of life as we know it. Some would have us believe that this foretells of great calamity that will befall us today. Others would have us understand that somehow mystically or magically we will all have a greater awareness beginning tomorrow. I'm a reader and sometimes I even read junk. I recently read some nitwit named Jue Min's take on "A Prophecy of the Mayan Calendar" and in it he claimed that we don't have to worry about the arrival of calamity today. There are no asteroids bearing down on us. Instead, he says the Mayan's last calendar day will enter us into a whole new cosmic awareness and spiritual transition towards the new civilization.
TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF WINTER!!!
…Timberline Resort is getting bombed with snow AND making snow this AM!
Winter for the 2012-2013 season begins today and ends on March 19th, 2013. While superstorm Sandy dumped lots of snow back in late October, that was too early to do anything like jump-start the ski and snowboarding season around these parts. It got everyone excited about the prospects of a great and wonderful snow season here in the Southeast and Mid Atlantic. Then Ma Nature came along and slapped us back into reality with a milder than normal November and December to this point that has had most of the ski areas of the region looking more ready to host a golf tournament (on their green grasses) than an on-snow experience.
That has all changed in one 24 hour period as I am now cosmically aware and enlightened (hey there MAY be something to this Mayan thingy) that it has turned colder than a Polar bear after a Brazilian wax job!
MORE ABOUT MY ENLIGHTENMENT – (Your's is coming!)
According to the aforementioned boob – Since the Mayan people were expert sky watchers, scholars of the Mayan civilization studied the future sky for December 12, 2012 and realized the reason that the Maya determined this day as the last day. This day will be a Winter Solstice. The Sun is going to exactly overlap with the intersect point of Ecliptic of the Milky Way and Equator. At this point, the Sun will be located in the crack of the Milky Way. Or the Milky Way "sits" on the Earth. It will be almost like opening a door to the sky for the Earth.
WILL SOMEBODY CLOSE THAT DOOR! IT'S COLD IN HERE!
That's enough silliness for today. December 21st is here and "yes Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus and he WILL be dropping off those new skis, snowboards and goodies to all good little boys and girls on Christmas Eve."
METEOROLOGIST BRAD PANOVICH EVERYONE…
Brad, that snow-loving weather guru from Charlotte, is home for the Holidays and he was good enough to throw on a knit hat and get us an update on what he expects from this first day of winter and beyond.
He's talking 12-16" of snow for Wisp Resort and says don't be surprised if they don't see 20" from this storm. Further south into Pocahontas County, West Virginia he expects 14-16" of snow for Snowshoe, Canaan Valley and Timberline. Again he things that the models are under estimating the amounts of snow that may fall from today through the early part of the weekend.
That same system is looking like 4-5" of snow for Winterplace, which is further south in WV.
A lot of that snow will be hard to measure because it is and will be so windy.
Brad is forecasting maybe an inch or two of snow for Appalachian Ski Mountain in Blowing Rock. Beech Mountain Resort and Sugar Mountain could top out at 8" of snow although he said 4-6" is a more likely snowfall total for them.
He popped over to Wolf Laurel (Wolf Ridge Resort) and Ober Gatlinburg and says to expect perhaps an inch or two (1-2") of snow there.
He expects snow to last all the way into Saturday evening.
TEMPS ARE COLD!
Expect highs in the low 20s and lows around 10° around Snowshoe and the upper West Virginia and Maryland ski resorts. He is forecasting highs around the North Carolina mountain resorts to be in the low 30s for highs and around 20° for lows through Sunday.
DID I SAY THAT IT'S SNOWING!?!?!
We are seeing good snow this morning here at our offices between Boone and Banner Elk. Ditto that for most of the ski resort communities. It's 17° at Snowshoe this AM.
Brad alluded to ANOTHER SNOW STORM arriving just after Christmas and he will update us on that Christmas Eve, but I can give you a hint. For those of you who are heading to Snowshoe with me on December 26th for a weeklong ski and snowboard getaway – we are in for some S-N-O-W! After perhaps 6-10-12-16" of snow from today through Saturday, snow hits again on Monday, Christmas Eve at the West Virginia resorts. Christmas Day may see some flurries here and there, but it WILL be a WHITE CHRISTMAS!
Then UMMMM Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday – they are expecting SNOW in the forecast. Good grief they should pay me to move there because everytime I show up SNOW HITS. You can ask Bill Rock, Laura Parquette, Ed Galford or Ed Schneider. I'm coming guys! (Both Ed's are still at Snowshoe.)
https://www.skisoutheast.com/videos.php
YOU GUYS ARE LOVING IT THAT BRAD'S BACK…
After a brief hiatus last season, Brad Panovich is back to being "our guy" for the weather news for the ski resorts of the Southeast and Mid Atlantic and you guys are OBVIOUSLY lovin' it! Video "watches" are way up and we want to thank Brad for being with us this season.
BLESSED WITH A GREAT STAFF…
We had an informal, office Christmas party last night at Puerto Nuevos in Banner Elk and it was great hanging with most of our staff. Kenny was headed to Charlotte last night and we missed him. Lisa and Lauren are on maternity leave as they've added two more to the AppNet/SkiNC/SkiSoutheast family recently. Two of our team (Sean Blankenship and Jim Eleczko) are in Tampa, Florida and Raliegh, North Carolina and Sean & his wife (Summer) are expecting a new edition to their family. Jim and Stacy had a young boy a couple of years back so we've seen our office family really grow recently.
Seeing the talent that surrounded our table last night and the genuine liking that we each have for each other was very humbling. I'm truly blessed to have the great people that call AppNet their home away from home. Talent is hard to find and still harder to keep – and yet we're blessed with amazing, good people who happen to be very talented at what they do.
Last night was very cool guys and gals. Thank you for being a part of my world and allowing me to be part of yours.
DITTO THAT COMMENT TO YOU GUYS – OUR READERS…
…things are ROCKING already this morning with 32.9% of our visitors being brand new! (…and it's only 9am!)
First THANK YOU for making our little place on the internet your favorite place to stop in for a warm mug of hot chocolate and some conversation each morning.
We're already seeing traffic BLOWING UP on www.SkiSoutheast.com, www.HighCountryWeather.com (and our 20 stations websites like www.CanaanValleyWeather.com) and www.ResortCams.com!
It doesn't take long for word to get out about the snow falling and we've already seen more than 4000 visitors this morning to the cameras with over 300 camera pages PER MINUTE LIVE right now.
This will be a HUGE visitor day on www.ResortCams.com and the GREAT news is that the new web server and associated/dedicated video server is handling the bombing of traffic! Woohoo!
I just spoke with several callers who have informed me that WSOC in Charlotte was showing the live cams and THE WEATHER CHANNEL and WBT have already shown their viewers today.
http://www.resortcams.com/webcameras-blowing-rock.php
Anyway – back to you guys (our viewers) – we saw a HUGE day yesterday with more than 23000 visitors and today is already dwarfing those numbers! I've fielded phone calls all morning from people wondering "if ya'll are going to be open tomorrow".
I guess that depends on whether we're ALL still here after this Mayan calendar thingy happens.
Anyway THANKS SO MUCH for making us your one-stop-shop for weather, live cams and all of your ski, snowboarding and ski resort reporting news.
With all of this snow falling I DOUBT if this is the only time you'll hear from me/us today. Check back early and often.
Email me your thoughts and reactions at: [email protected]
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