Snowshoe Unauthorized

They can probably turn this thing off!

After delaying the start of the ski and snowboard season from its original date of November 24, Snowshoe resort is getting a rich reward in the form of a massive snow dump which has already delivered about two feet of snow in just the past couple of days. Now read what the National Weather Service is promising this morning:

Today: Snow showers and areas of blowing snow. High near 11. Wind chill values as low as -17. Windy, with a west wind between 25 and 29 mph, with gusts as high as 44 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 4 to 8 inches possible.

Tonight: Snow showers and areas of blowing snow. Low around 4. Wind chill values as low as -18. Windy, with a northwest wind between 24 and 29 mph, with gusts as high as 45 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.

The ropes drop at 9am Wednesday, December 8.

A snow tech prepares to a check a snowgun near the summit of the Ball Hooter lift December 1.

I don’t know how much it rained overnight, but it was a steady downpour all night November 30-December 1, and it resulted in the erasure of a lot of the hard work of the Snowshoe snowmaking crew, which— like the rest of us— probably hoped that the season would open as scheduled last Wednesday, November 24.

But Mother Nature made other plans.

The season is now slated to open on Friday, December 10th at 9am. So that’s good news that an opening day is in sight.

The other good news is that natural snow began falling this morning, December 1, around daybreak. By the time I left the mountain at 2:30pm today, it appeared that at least three or four inches of fluffy white snow had fallen. Combine that with a steady stream of manmade snow, and the base is on its way.

Oh, and the National Weather Service shows cold temperatures and snow showers for the forseeable future, so the guns are likely to keep on gunning, and the base is likely to keep on deepening.