2025-2026 Fall/Winter Mountain Thread

[NorthHillsWx]

Alright mountain folk- think my wife and I are going to come up for a NW flow event snowcation tomorrow. We were thinking banner elk-beech mountain and above 4500 feet. Only concern with beech is it being a zoo on the weekend, though we aren’t skiing. Any additional advice? Found a good number of rentals available want quick access to a town for meals and walking around, don’t need to be peak snowfall but want good chance at a couple inches

[Met1985]

5 minutes ago, NorthHillsWx said:

Alright mountain folk- think my wife and I are going to come up for a NW flow event snowcation tomorrow. We were thinking banner elk-beech mountain and above 4500 feet. Only concern with beech is it being a zoo on the weekend, though we aren’t skiing. Any additional advice? Found a good number of rentals available want quick access to a town for meals and walking around, don’t need to be peak snowfall but want good chance at a couple inches

Not really familiar about that area but that should be a great spot for this upcoming event.

[Met1985]

This is looking more and more like a classic setup flow event.

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[Met1985]

12k NAM has a significant uptick on the flow snow.

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[BooneWX]

2 hours ago, NorthHillsWx said:

Alright mountain folk- think my wife and I are going to come up for a NW flow event snowcation tomorrow. We were thinking banner elk-beech mountain and above 4500 feet. Only concern with beech is it being a zoo on the weekend, though we aren’t skiing. Any additional advice? Found a good number of rentals available want quick access to a town for meals and walking around, don’t need to be peak snowfall but want good chance at a couple inches

From living in that area for a while: Banner Elk will be ground zero 

 

Sneaky good spots for these setups:

- Blowing Rock 

- Aho area of Watauga County near the parkway

- Zionville (Watauga)

- Sugar Grove (Watauga)

- Meat Camp (Watauga, near Elk Knob State Park)

- Newland 

- crossnore

- Minneapolis 

- Creston (Ashe Co)

 

Avoid:

- Deep Gap

- West Jefferson 

-Jonas Ridge 

- Sugar (near ground zero but if you’re going to deal with the crowds, might as well go all in with Beech)

[Met1985]

12z gfs coming in a bit better but as we've seen the models have underestimated flow snow most of the season.

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[eyewall]

2 hours ago, NorthHillsWx said:

Alright mountain folk- think my wife and I are going to come up for a NW flow event snowcation tomorrow. We were thinking banner elk-beech mountain and above 4500 feet. Only concern with beech is it being a zoo on the weekend, though we aren’t skiing. Any additional advice? Found a good number of rentals available want quick access to a town for meals and walking around, don’t need to be peak snowfall but want good chance at a couple inches

Banner Elk is usually a sure bet.

[NorthHillsWx]

4 minutes ago, BooneWX said:

From living in that area for a while: Banner Elk will be ground zero 

 

Sneaky good spots for these setups:

- Blowing Rock 

- Aho area of Watauga County near the parkway

- Zionville (Watauga)

- Sugar Grove (Watauga)

- Meat Camp (Watauga, near Elk Knob State Park)

- Newland 

- crossnore

- Minneapolis 

- Creston (Ashe Co)

 

Avoid:

- Deep Gap

- West Jefferson 

-Jonas Ridge 

- Sugar (near ground zero but if you’re going to deal with the crowds, might as well go all in with Beech)

 

1 minute ago, eyewall said:

Banner Elk is usually a sure bet.

Think we’re going with banner elk for the town and availability of places to stay. Never been either, looking forward to it. 

[Met1985]

4 minutes ago, NorthHillsWx said:

 

Think we’re going with banner elk for the town and availability of places to stay. Never been either, looking forward to it. 

Should be a great setup for flow snow.

[Buckethead]

The Cane River is frozen pretty solid up here near the state line.

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