Snow guns take over where mother nature leaves off.
THOMPSONVILLE -- It is looking like a white Christmas on Crystal Mountain in Thompsonville.
The snow guns fired up overnight in hopes of getting the hills covered in time for a weekend opening. While Mother Nature hasn't been cooperating with snowfall so far this season, the colder weather is helping create the man-made white stuff! Officials with the ski resort say 28-degrees is the magic number for making snow. The low 20s is ideal and low humidity also helps.
About 18-inches of packed base is needed to open a slope. At full-capacity, Crystal Mountain's snowmaking system can cover one acre, with one foot of snow in one hour. Man-made snow is denser, so every ten inches of snow, creates a six to seven inch base.
The crew at Crystal Mountain is making every effort to get a run or two open this weekend, but that does depend on the temperature staying within the magic snowmaking number.
For the latest snow report for Crystal Mountain click here.
