Current Conditions
Sugar Mtn

Temp: 48.8°F

Forecast Last Updated at Wednesday, March 12, 2014 at 12:28PM

Shock & Awe

If you are standing up to read this, you may want to sit down. And while you're there...buckle up. Okay, we don't want to be overly dramatic, but there's going to be some serious drama by this evening.

Scattered showers with the influx of perhaps a little sunshine will be around during the day. A very impressive cold front tears across the mountains by late afternoon. Accompanying the front will be a thin line of broken showers mixed with a thunderstorm or two, and gusty wind in the 3pm-4pm time frame. Behind the front a stout northwest wind will pick up with gusts to 60 mph this evening and tonight. Temperatures will drop 20-25 degrees in a couple of hours and snow showers develop by 7pm or 8pm (earlier up top). Snow showers continue overnight with accumulations in the 1"-3" range with higher totals favoring west facing slopes and ridges especially near the TN line.

Wednesday Hi: 55 Lo: 15 Mostly cloudy; Scattered showers (maybe some thunder); Turning much colder in the PM; Precip changing to snow showers late day & at night; Wind: AM SW 10-20 mph, becoming NW 20-30 mph with gusts to 60 mph Wed. night

Thursday Hi: 26 Lo: 19 Early flurries; Then clearing; Very cold; Blustery; NW wind 20-30 mph with gusts to 40 mph

Friday Hi: 44 Lo: 32 Sunny early; Clouds moving in late; Less cold by afternoon

Saturday Hi: 47 Lo: 33 Partly to mostly cloudy; Not bad

Sunday Hi: 43 Lo: 29 Cloudy; Cool for mid-March; Spotty daytime light rain changing to light snow at night

Further Out

Monday - Cloudy & chilly; Light snow early changing to light rain or a snow/rain mix then back to snow at night; High in the mid 30s; Low in the lower 20s
Tuesday - Cloudy early; Moderating temps; High in the lower 40s; Low in the upper 20s

Forecast Discussion

An area of low pressure and attending cold front will blast through the Ohio Valley on a journey to New England by early Thursday. The result is for scattered showers today before the front arrives with a lot of holes in the shower coverage. Just a long the leading edge of advancing cold air a skinny line of showers and thunderstorms will cross the mountains mid to late afternoon. They will be short-lived but make their presence known with gusty wind and brief driving rains. Temperatures collapse in a hurry behind the front as Arctic air invades by nightfall. Snow showers develop around sunset (earlier on mountaintops) and continue into the early overnight hours. Accumulations will favor the western slopes and higher terrain with dusting levels further east closer to the Blue Ridge. Total snowfall will be in the 1"-3" range. Flurries may linger for a quick spell early Thursday morning with clear skies for the majority of the day.

High pressure moves overhead by late Thursday bringing an end to the strong wind. As the high center makes a quick departure to the coast a southwest wind returns Friday making for a much nicer and warmer afternoon.

The weekend brings more clouds than sun. Saturday will be the better day of the two with seasonal temperatures. Light rain develops early Sunday with a threat for scattered showers during the day, not a washout, just overcast and more damp than anything.

Questions still remain as to how much cold air can filter this far south by Sunday night. For now the battle plan is to go with a changeover to snow Sunday night and then back to rain Monday possibly ending as snow Monday night. The ups and downs of March are relentless, the middle of next week turns milder again.

Sugar Mountain Resort Activities

March Madness rates today until the end of the season.

2015 Spyder Sample Sale is under way at Sugar Mountain Sports.

On Sunday, March 16th dress up in your Easter costume and come join Sugar Bear and Sweetie Bear on the slopes in search of prize and candy filled eggs. You may be the lucky winner of a 2013-2014 season pass hidden in the grand prize egg!

See what's really happening on the slopes. Check out our new panning, live streaming webcam from the top of Sugar Mountain. View the ice rink and the tubing park cam too.

View Sugar Mountain Resort's hours of operation.

Are you a Septuagenarian? If so, lots of perks at Sugar for you.

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