The Mid-Atlantic Daily Snow  

Daily Snow One Sentence Summary: Mid Atlantic ski areas are absolutely buried under 7-30 inches of fresh snow – time to stop reading about skiing online and go ski!!!

The storm that way underperformed for the major cities absolutely destroyed the mountains. Wintergreen is reporting 24-30 inches, Massanutten is reporting 22-24, Bryce Resort says 15-17, Canaan/Timberline/Whitegrass are reporting 12-16, Snowshoe came in at 12, 7 Springs and Whitetail both report 10 inches, Liberty has 7, Roundtop has 5, Hidden Valley eked out 4 inches, and Wisp probably has around 6-10 but is not reporting. Overall – amazing storm for the resorts. I’ll be heading to Timberline in WV this weekend to take advantage of some soid late season rates and enjoy some amazing spring skiing – I suggest everyone do the same.

Today-Sunday: Light snow showers will linger over the Highlands of WV, MD, and W PA for the remainder of today and possibly into tonight with temperatures only toping out in the low 30’s. For all other areas, the sun will come out in full force and temperatures will do their best to climb through the 30’s to near 40. Tonight will be chilly, halting any melting. Tomorrow through Sunday will feature ever increasing temperatures with highs approaching or exceeding 50 by the weekend. Saturday and Sunday will truly be the two of the best days for spring skiing in the Mid Atlantic in recent memory.

Massanutten has over 23 inches so far... 30 possible???

Other totals:

• Whitegrasss: ~15 inches (estimate)
• Wintergreen: ~18 inches (estimate)
• 7 Springs and Wisp: 8-10 inches
• DC: Basically nothing - snow hole
• Richmond area: 4+ inches around the city reported
• Winchester: 12+ inches
• Whitetail/Liberty/Roundtop: 6-10 inches (estimate)

Please post in the comments if you can provide any updates.

AM Update: Storm still looking good, just about to kick into high gear. Generally mixed precip around the major cities has been all snow for the mountains. Whitegrass in Canaan Valley, WV is already reporting 10-12 inches of fresh snow with a 12-40 inch base of all natural snow!!! One thing to note is that the temperatures at resort levels is well below freezing for the most part (24 in Canaan Valley, 22 at Wintergreen, 26 at 7 springs, 29 at Wisp, 32 at Liberty) - aka, the snow will be heavy but should be really fun to ski today and tomorrow morning.

Will post resort updates as they come in

Final forecasted totals by resort and uncertainty:

• Wintergreen, Massanutten, Bryce, other VA areas: 15-20 inches (high confidence)
• Whitegrass, Canaan Valley, Timberline: 14-18 inches (high confidence)
• Wisp: 10-14 inches (medium confidence)
• Snowshoe: 10-14 inches (medium confidence)
• Whitetail: 6-12 inches (medium-low confidence)
• Roundtop/Liberty: 6-10 inches (low confidence)

Reason for uncertainty: Uncertainty comes from the issue of the precipitation shield being limited to the North and West. VA and some WV areas are in a sweet spot where, regardless of the exact position of the redevelopment of the low pressure off the coast, they will get a solid amount of precipitation out fo the initial (overnight and early morning) batch of snow. Areas on the fringe (PA areas) have the potential to miss out a bit if the precipitation field isn’t as widespread, despite temperatures that will be plenty sufficient for snow.

This all said - at least one model (12Z NAM) depicted monstrous totals throughout the area (10+) and the distinct possibility that some areas at elevation will see 24 inches+. Who will get the most snow? - my guess continues to be Wintergreen with Massanutten and the Canaan Valley areas close behind.

Next and final pre-storm update will come this evening followed by some live nowcasting during the storm tomorrow! If anyone plans on skiing tomorrow, please give me a shout  - would love to arrange for some pics to be posted to the page or include some type of mid day trip report!

Overnight and AM models have cloudied the solution a bit, mixing may be more of an issue for the DC area than previously expected. That said, with a storm developing off the coast like this, I'm betting temperatures stay colder than expected and snow wins the rain/snow battle for the majority of the storm.

Precipitation totals are still forecasted to be AMAZINGLY high for areas in VA in WV, combined with the colder mountain temperatures, I'm expecting Canaan Valley/Timberline/Whitegrass to come out as the winners with 14+ likely and up to 2 feet possible. Massanutten, Bryce, Wintergreen, and the Homestead (along with all other Western VA areas) will also do very well - the jackpot will likely be somewhere along the Blue Ridge near Front Royal.

I know I said my final resort by resort totals would be out by this AM, but I'm going to postpone until after the next model run around noon. Winter storm warnings are out for all the resort areas and break down as follows (note that these are broad forecasts - point and click NWS forecast will likely show more snow):

• Whitegrass, Timberline, Canaan Valley: 8-14
• Snowshoe: 8-10
• 7 Springs, Wisp, Hidden Valley, Mystic Mountain: 8-14
• Wintergreen/Bryce/Homestead/Other VA areas: 6-10
• Whitetail/Liberty/Roundtop: 6-12