📷 Sugar Mountain
North America
Closed for the season
Season ended March 22, 2026
Conditions data updated Wed, Sep 2, 02:05 PM UTC · informational only
Scroll for happiness
Closed for the season — closed March 22
Weather data is still collected for informational purposes.
Last Snowfall
--
Past 24 Hours
0cm
Past 48 Hours
0cm
Past 10 Days
0cm
14-Day Forecast
0cm
Snow Depth
--
Powder Days
2
2026–27 season
Sugar Mountain Resort is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and features 125 skiable acres with 21 slopes and trails, offering terrain for all ability levels. The resort provides a range of winter activities including skiing, snowboarding, tubing, ice skating, and snowshoeing. Key amenities include a modern base lodge, equipment rentals, lessons, and on-mountain dining. Sugar Mountain stands out for its family-friendly atmosphere, diverse terrain, and scenic mountain views.
Click to expand • 3 total photos
Resort-reported stats for Sugar Mountain
Lifts
7
Skiable area
125 ac
Longest run
2.4 km / 1.5 mi
Beginner
8
40% of terrain
Intermediate
8
40% of terrain
Advanced
3
16% of terrain
Expert
1
4% of terrain
Run counts estimated from resort-reported totals and terrain mix.
Snowmaking covers about 100% of terrain.
Season dates
Future dates are operator estimates and may change.
Ski passes
No ski pass found
Access tiers change by season — confirm benefits on the pass operator's site.
The Last Run Lounge – A popular après-ski spot located at the Sugar Mountain Resort base lodge, known for its cozy atmosphere, selection of craft beers, and scenic mountain views, making it a favorite gathering place for skiers to unwind after a day on the slopes.
Updated Sep 2, 2026 at 2:05 PM
Historical data from Open-Meteo archive • Forecast from ECMWF IFS model
Mid-Atlantic & Appalachians region
Reported Wed, Sep 2, 02:05 PM UTC
Base
1341m
Temp
22.1°C
Wind
1km/h
Snow Depth
--
14-Day Forecast
0cm
Mid-Mountain
1463m
Temp
--°C
Wind
1km/h
Snow Depth
--
14-Day Forecast
0cm
Summit
1585m
Temp
20.5°C
Wind
1km/h
Snow Depth
--
14-Day Forecast
0cm
El Niño Outlook · Winter 2026-27
Sugar Mountain is under review in SnowSure's El Niño dataset — we will not publish a rank against a discontinuous historical series.
This station is under review and carries no rank: its 30-year ERA5 baseline falls below the 80cm floor our methodology commits to, so percentage swings computed on it are unstable by construction. We expect it to benefit from El Niño; our method cannot size that reliably.
The black line is not a simple average. For Sugar Mountain (rockies), we combine seven global weather models using weights learned from daily forecast verification — comparing each model's prediction to measured snowfall (SNOTEL, resort reports, ERA5).
Building verification history for this resort.
How we verify forecasts →AM / PM / Night breakdown with wind and freezing level
NWP models refresh up to 4× daily · Last synced Sep 2, 2:05 PM
Today 27 / 13 | Thu, Sep 3 27 / 150.3mm | Fri, Sep 4 25 / 151.5mm | Sat, Sep 5 26 / 151.5mm | Sun, Sep 6 20 / 138.1mm | Mon, Sep 7 17 / 125.7mm | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night | AM | PM | Night |
| Snow (cm) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Precip (mm) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 | 0 | 0 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | 3.3 | 4.8 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 3.9 |
| Temp (°C) | 18 | 26 | 17 | 19 | 27 | 18 | 19 | 25 | 18 | 18 | 24 | 17 | 15 | 20 | 14 | 12 | 15 | 14 |
| Wind (km/h) | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 5 |
| Gusts (km/h) | 11 | 16 | 10 | 10 | 15 | 10 | 10 | 24 | 10 | 20 | 22 | 18 | 12 | 25 | 27 | 13 | 18 | 19 |
Summit elevation (1585m)
Today
2
☀️
26.8°
13.2°
5 km/h
Thu
3
🌧️
27.4°
15.2°
6 km/h
Fri
4
🌧️
25.3°
15.2°
9 km/h
Sat
5
🌧️
25.6°
14.8°
10 km/h
Sun
6
🌧️
20.4°
13°
7 km/h
Mon
7
🌧️
16.8°
12.2°
8 km/h
Tue
8
🌧️
18.5°
11.3°
6 km/h
Wed
9
☁️
22.3°
9.2°
5 km/h
Thu
10
🌧️
24.3°
10.7°
7 km/h
Fri
11
☁️
24.7°
11.7°
11 km/h
Summit elevation (1585m) • ECMWF model
Updated Wed, Sep 2, 02:05 PM UTC
0cm
Season Total
This Season to Date
—
vs 5-Year Avg
Off-season · 47cm full-season avg
—
vs 30-Year Avg
Off-season · 48cm full-season avg
47cm
5-Yr Avg by Now
The last completed season totaled ~48.9 cm. That's 4% above the 5-year average (47 cm). Versus the 30-year baseline: near the 30-year average (48 cm).
Average annual snowfall is 50cm with an average of 32 snowfall days per season. The recent decade runs 22% above this average (61cm over the last ten tracked seasons). The table below shows monthly averages across 30 seasons of archive data (modeled snowpack at mid-elevation).
| Month | Avg Snowfall | Snowfall Days | Avg Base Depth | Max Base Depth | Biggest Snowfall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November | 1.7cm | 2 days | 0cm | 3cm | 1.5cm |
| December | 9.6cm | 6 days | 2cm | 8cm | 5.2cm |
| January | 17.3cm | 9 days | 4cm | 13cm | 8cm |
| February | 13.1cm | 7 days | 5cm | 14cm | 6.8cm |
| March | 6.9cm | 5 days | 1cm | 8cm | 3.8cm |
| April | 2.3cm | 2 days | 0cm | 4cm | 1.9cm |
| May | 0.1cm | 0 days | 0cm | 4cm | 0.5cm |
Source: SnowSure archive · Open-Meteo ERA5 reanalysis at mid-elevation. Depth is modeled, not resort-reported.
Next season(2026-27)
Opens Nov 11, 2026
Multi-season averages will appear once SnowSure has tracked more than one full season.
In 10 past El Niño winters at Sugar Mountain, ERA5 season snowfall median was 57 cm (22 in), about 21% above this resort’s long-term median. This is a historical analog from reanalysis — not a prediction of this winter’s storm track.
Prevailing ONI
El Niño
MJJ 2026 · ANOM +1.39°C
Analog season median
57 cm
10 El Niño winters · 21% above median
All-season median
47 cm
Across 30 ERA5 seasons (2026-27)
| Phase | Seasons | Median | p25–p75 | Recent analogs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Niñocurrent | 10 | 57 cm | 45 cm – 73 cm | 2023, 2019, 2018, 2015, 2014, 2009 |
| La Niña | 12 | 44 cm | 31 cm – 53 cm | 2022, 2021, 2020, 2017, 2011, 2010 |
| ENSO-neutral | 8 | 49 cm | 44 cm – 57 cm | 2025, 2024, 2016, 2013, 2012, 2003 |
Season snowfall from Open-Meteo ERA5 reanalysis (~9 km). ENSO phase from NOAA CPC Oceanic Niño Index. Relative phase differences are more trustworthy than absolute cm totals. Source: NOAA CPC Oceanic Niño Index + Open-Meteo ERA5 via SnowSure season archive.
February
Peak Season
January
Peak Season
March
Good
December
Good
Note: Based on typical ski season patterns for this region.
