There are now flood watches for much of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Ohio. Have a look for yourself: http://www.weather.com/weather/map/USWV0189?name=index_large&day=1

NOw, Im not the skiing weatherman, but I dont think that 3 inches of rain is very good for the skiing!! I hope theres some snow left at Timberline when I get there tomorrow mornin. Worst winter I can remember.

How do you get grass stains off your skis?

I don't know about grass stains but needle nose pliers are great for extracting the stones that now form most of my snowboards base. Check out the latest update on the Whitetail webcams, their much lauded snowmaking team better pull their thumbs out for this weekend. As for their comment that the "pipe is sweet" it looks like it was cut with a kitchen knife.

a mid atlanic ski area that doesnt lie on their snow reports?? puleese. they will need cold weather to make snow and right now i see very little. maybe tomorrow night but if the humidity is high it wont matter. no doubt about it, whitetail will be hurting big time as aresult of this weather. roudntops pipe is still pretty good but totally crowded with kooks.

Looking at Whitetail's website this morning (Friday), looks liked they've closed most of their blues and blacks. Don't know if they're trying to save the trails for the weekend or that they have no snow. Based on the cover last weekend, I'm guessing they have no snow.

Went to Whitetail last night. They don't have much snow at all. We had to be very carefull going down some trails because there would be BIG spots of grass and rocks. We still managed to have a good time on the trails that were open. Besides there isn't much they can do when it is 60 degrees outside. I hope the weather turns around soon.

i hear from a good source that whitetail may be closing tonight to save what little they got. was at roudntop today and things are still good there. nice day though. fear not the end of week outlook looks great.

Not to get too depressing, but I've heard rumors that we're heading into another El Nino year. That means we may not have much in the way of skiing next season either. Jeez, who says there's no such thing as global warming! Its near 70 friggin' degrees in JANUARY!

70 degrees and nothing but warm rain coming. I think you are quite right about Whitetail closing tonight...I mean really "closing"!

my days of smashing the tv after the weather are over. just accept it. we always get warm weather at some point in the winter. whats killing us is the late start and relatively low base depths. cold weather will come back and who knows, we could get tons of natural snow in march into april. my contacts at roundtop said they are committed to a late season if the weather and crowds cooperate. so all you marylanders keep your golf bags in the closet and keep coming out in march!!!!

Use www.accuweather.com instead of weather.com. accuweather is usually more accurate and they do a 15 day forcast that even if it's all BS makes me feel a little bit better.

Short, but interesting article in current USA Today about impact of warm temps on winter tourism, being felt just about everywhere east of the Mississippi. Article includes quote from Horst Locher of VA's Bryce Ski Resort, where they are hanging in there, but just barely.

I believe one of the main causes of ski tourism decline in the Mid Atlantic is the attitude of the weather forecasters. To paraphrase Dana Carvey's impersonation of George Bush Sr., Warm... good... Snow... Bad...

If you go to Boston, newscasters and weather forecasters clap and make all kinds of good noise when the weather calls for the white stuff. And they are the role model for the community.

I recently invited several guests to my condo at Snowshoe, but only two out of eight showed up because the forecaster had announced snow. Imagine that -- not going to ski because it was going to snow... Duh... The media hype about snow is plainly visible in the community's preparedness. Even the mention of the color white related to the weather and they are exhorting us to clean out the shelves at the nearest Giant.

If I had the money, I'd buy all the news station time and whomever in the news or weather department deared to say anything bad about snow or winter would be on their rear end out on the street...

:-)

Lou

Lou,

You have obviously been inviting the wrong people. Next time invite me! I'll come no matter what the weather.
What really drives me crazy about the weather forecsters here is that they predict the "storm of the decade" that never happens and then with big smiles on their faces declare that "we dodged a bullet."
Boy that pisses me off!
Since when did snow become a bad thing? Would people really rather have frozen dirt or 40 degrees and raining?
It is like people think that hating snow is a part of the maturing process. If you ask me it is part of the dying process. Get out and live.

Let it snow and snow in winter. We have 3 other seasons for non-snow activities.

We are blessed to have 4 seasons here. So if you want to get rid of one I say lets dump Summer.
P.S.
I just got back from skiing Canaan and Timberline in the 60"s this sun - tuesday. They were about 50% open and ice and thick heavy snow but it was still a blast. As long as there is snow you should go. Have fun.

Lou - I agree with Myrto. I'll go to Snowshoe as well - even if there's a veritable blizzard out. I've driven through bad snow in my hometown of Buffalo to get to the slopes!!

As for weather forecasters, I think its time to start a "Bob-Ryan-must-die" site. He gets positively giddy in weather like this. Come on Bob, grow up! Snow = fun. When did anyone in DC ever die for lack of bread, milk or toilet paper during the ONE DAY it takes for snow to melt around here?

Massanutten closed for a few days... that makes my life a bit simpler.. I couldn't figure out if I should go out w/ this girl or go riding this weekend..

danedane, when the date's over, your still gonna wish you went skiing.

I agree with everyone. On Thursday it was cloudy and rainy. There were times I walked outside and saw my breath. This was the happiest I've been all week. I went outside and rollerbladed (pretending to ski).

Now Mon-Wed, it was 70 degrees, sunny, and gorgeous for May. I sat inside, worked on the computer, and sulked at such crappy weather.

i'm going surfing today and tomorrow and then hitting roundtop on sunday. i dont think either roundtop, liberty or whitetail will get to make much tonight but saturday night looks pretty good. i wounldnt be surprised if they dotn blow all day on sunday (they had better!!) so make sure you have your goggles if you go.