NC Skiing Already?
I got notification from the Southeast Ski Association that a ski area is going to try to open today.
Cataloochee, near the Smoky Mountains, was able to fire up its snow making machines. Here is a picture from yesterday.
You need 30 degree or colder air to make snow in these machines. The closer to 30 you get the drier the air must be to be able to make crystals. Once the air is below 20, then it’s ideal snow making conditions no matter what the humidity. It is cold in the mountains today with temperatures in many areas staying below freezing. They even had some natural snow.
Here is an illustration of how a snow machine works.
A) A compressed air line. B) A water line. C) The area where as the compressed air expands, rips the water into very tiny droplets. D) The tiny droplets form into crystals and interact with E) Cold air, 30 degrees or below. Finally F) Snow is made!
This snow is real not artificial.
I wonder how much one of these costs?…………………………….. I looked, several thousands of dollars; and they use a lot of water over 35,000 gallons to make 6″ of snow in a 100×100 sqaure foot area.
So much for making our house have snow on Christmas!
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