I know it's a little further afield,  but this is looking like a monster snow storm on top of 3-4 days of concentrated snowmaking and trail openings. The Boone areas are in for a good one, I think I'll be there

Maybe further for most DCSki folks, but the snow coming this weekend is going to be in my backyard. :-)

Weird pattern.  But the NC ski areas will be happy in some ways.  Only problem for Sunday is that many people won't be able to get to the slopes if it dumps as expected.  Especially hard for Beech Mtn.  That road is only passible with 4WD and some snow driving sense during a big storm.

No doubt, it really is an issue of get there but be prepared to be stuck.

The Irony of course will be if the resorts power is impacted, and I think in a general failure it could be

Fair to say that Mike Doble of SkiSE is excited for the upcoming big snowstorm.  His article today mentioned sightings of Jim Cantore of the Weather Channel in western NC.  People are trying to guess exactly where Cantore will be by Saturday afternoon when the snow is supposed to get going.  Apparently Doble has skied with Cantore at Wisp and Snowshoe.  The SkiSE webcams will be used by the Weather Channel.

For the latest about the Dec. 7 storm.  Really odd shape.  Winterplace will get more snow than Snowshoe.  Massanutten and Wintergreen will get very little.  It's the NC mountains that will be buried, along with the Piedmont all the way to Raleigh.

http://www.skisoutheast.com/ski-southeast-forecast-for-dec-7th-2018-this-big-one-for-north-carolina/

Cantore is definately a thing which to me is very strange,  I barely know who he is and have know special desire to meet him

I know he is a weather channel celebrity,  but he ain't no Dave Lesher, who I would like to meet -- a statistical party animal

kemperski wrote:

Cantore is definately a thing which to me is very strange,  I barely know who he is and have know special desire to meet him

I know he is a weather channel celebrity,  but he ain't no Dave Lesher, who I would like to meet -- a statistical party animal

Usually if NC is associate with Cantore, it's because of a hurricane.  So having him flitting about the NC mountains looking for the best location to stand in deep snow is a bit different.

Note that Mike Doble has put many years and a lot of work into an amazing network of webcams across the southeastern ski areas.  It's a cooperative effort with the ski areas/resorts, but it's his staff that provides the technical know-how for good installations and upgrades.  I've met Mike and his family at SkiSE gatherings, including the annual Snowshoe Summit.  Nice guy who doesn't get to ski that much but loves promoting the industry.

Don't be too surprised of you arrive at Beech or Sugar Monday morning to discover the cats have been packing it down with rollers all night long.  It's great for them to capture and preserve what they can to ensure a better Christmas break for everyone.  Even 20" off to the side of the trails where other snow making hasn't laid good base yet is pretty sketchy, stumps and rocks barely covered.  This kind of event later December through early March is a much better scenario.

Note that Mike Doble has put many years and a lot of work into an amazing network of webcams across the southeastern ski areas.  

Maybe he missed Timberline! LOL Any reason their webcam is disabled? Even The Homestead would have their's on with just grass. (note - they are blowing now).

$$$&$!

snow.buck wrote:

 

Note that Mike Doble has put many years and a lot of work into an amazing network of webcams across the southeastern ski areas.  

Maybe he missed Timberline! LOL Any reason their webcam is disabled? Even The Homestead would have their's on with just grass. (note - they are blowing now).

The webcams are done in cooperation with a ski area.  So what is installed is still up to the local management.  The difference between 2018 and ten years ago in terms of the number and quality of webcams is more obvious for NC ski areas.  Although I think SkiSE has worked with Snowshoe too.

crgildart wrote:

Don't be too surprised of you arrive at Beech or Sugar Monday morning to discover the cats have been packing it down with rollers all night long.  It's great for them to capture and preserve what they can to ensure a better Christmas break for everyone.  Even 20" off to the side of the trails where other snow making hasn't laid good base yet is pretty sketchy, stumps and rocks barely covered.  This kind of event later December through early March is a much better scenario.

What the SkiSE guys who are staying slopeside tonight are hoping for is plenty of refills all during the day on Sunday.  10-20 inches in 10-12 hours means 1-2 inches an hour for some periods.

Somebody had a good day today up in Boone/Blowing Rock/Banner Elk. Looked outside around 4am to see about 4-5 inches on the deck. Power went out around 8. There was about 8-10 inches by then. Teens went out to play in it, took the dog for a little while. I fired up the grill to fry up chili components and then mixed them up in a pot. Knocked the snow piling up off the out buildings, one gazebo canopy collapsed before I got to it.
We got another 3-4 inches after I tool this photo. It turned to rain/freezing rain by about noon. So, there was a short window of goods before it turned to cement. Folks who had lodging up at or very near a ski hill won the lottery this morning. No doubt they groomed it all down pretty much immediately though so it will last through the holidays.

Never get tired of getting to knock this off my ski car. Too bad this time it wasn't where there was any skiing.



I will click on to some snow blades or my tele rig tonight and hit the neighborhood hills under the moon. Which I pick will depend on how much the rain washes away. Oh, and I'm already sore as hell from shoveling the driveway, front porch, and back deck.

Definitely nice blower conditions up in the mountains today.  10 years ago I'd have been there.  Super fun last time I made ot,, but not as daring to make the drive up and back as a day trip as I used to be.

Nice backyard stokage!

We got nada up here around DC, but at least I made a smart choice to take a nap during the Redskins game.

Total snowfall today in Durham, according to the TV weather folks, 14".  Rain has washed it away down to about 8" now.  Still raining..

crgildart wrote:

Total snowfall today in Durham, according to the TV weather folks, 14".  Rain has washed it away down to about 8" now.  Still raining..

Been funny to watch the Weather Channel coverage of the snowstorm in NC/VA sitting in a hotel room near Boston.  A lot of focus on how many flights were cancelled out of Charlotte.  Scenes of driving down Franklin Street in Chapel Hill.

My husband said there was 7-8 inches in our front yard by lunch time.  Dog had a good time playing in the snow in the fenced back yard.  She's always liked snow.  Will chase snowballs. :-)

Seems as if VA is getting more than expected.  Massanutten had 5 inches on the summit by 4:30pm.

Cantore might not be all that far lout of his wheelhouse.  Looking more like a tropical storm than blizzard this evening.  There's still several inches out there but deep slush and water pooling and ponding all around.  Word is it won't get back below freezing tonight.  Good for the roads, bad for places prone to flooding that have almost recovered from the last round of severe weather.  I gotta wonder what kind of insane snow totals we'd have now if it hadn't warmed up past freezing around noon today.  It's still raining right now an more coming throughout the night in to the morning.  14" of snow here could very well have been double that if it were 5 degrees cooler.

What did Beech end up with?  Going to click over there and check that out!

crgildart wrote:

What did Beech end up with?  Going to click over there and check that out!

For some reason, OpenSnow only had Cat, App, and Wolf on the Deepest 1-Day Snow Totals list.  3 of the top 5 with 15, 14, and 11 inches.  No report from Beech or Sugar.

I've been watching the Mnut webcams.  Been dumping since I started looking around 4pm.  One friend decided to stay another night instead of driving home to DC.  Has parents who own a home at Massanutten.

Beech's website is reporting 12-15.  I've seen better there but that's still pretty killer. 

It snowed at snowshoe from 7am and was still coming down a lot when I left at 4. I saw 3 vehicles being towed out and another 2 already on a tow truck between the village and Cass. I suspect they ended up with at least 6”, probably more. Although not as deep as the Carolinas it was probably some of the lightest snow I have ever seen there and when the crowds thinned out after 11 it was really easy to find powder on the sides of the trails. Probably one of the top day I had there...and cupp and shays were both great.

I was snowed-in in Richmond on Sunday evening, over 12”!

JimK wrote:

Nice backyard stokage!

We got nada up here around DC, but at least I made a smart choice to take a nap during the Redskins game.