New York Sees First Snowfall of the Season

The season's first snowfalls have been observed in high altitude western locales such as Lake Tahoe , Montana , and Jackson Hole , but snow had yet to fall on the East Coast, until yesterday, that is.

Watch as diehard east coast skier Wesley Poe makes the most of a light dusting and rime ice accumulation on Whiteface Mountain, New York on September 8, 2024.

Video: New York First Snowfall/First Ski Day, September 8, 2024

The accumulation clearly wasn't much more than a slippery coating of rime ice and snow, but try telling Poe and friends that their ski session 'doesn't count'. Skiing is skiing as they say, and ski he did (albeit a very short distance on a wooden walkway).

Poe is no stranger to early-season ski missions on Whiteface Mountain. He filmed a video in October of last year slipping and sliding on an ice-covered road that elicited similar reactions from internet commenters— why? We all love to ski, but is hiking for multiple hours with ski boots and skis worth sliding on ice for five seconds? For Poe and friends, the answer is clearly yes.

"We’re all college students so when we come back to school each year, we’re super eager to ski since we’ve had to deal with 3 months of summer at that point," he says. "From the moment we get back on campus at the end of August, we’re watching the weather super closely."

When Poe saw that temperatures were expected to plummet overnight at Whiteface, he and his small crew began to make plans. Plattsburgh is about an hour's drive away from the mountain, and not wanting to miss what could be a brief window of snow, the crew gathered up their gear and set out at 2 AM.

The temperature was hovering around 50 degrees Fahrenheit when the crew left Plattsburgh, but as they approached the mountain, and gained elevation, the numbers began to fall. It was a five mile hike up the access road to the summit, and while Poe and friends were unsure just how much snow would actually accumulate, they were pleased to see a light dusting when they reached the top around 7 AM.

According to Poe, the temperature was 30 degrees Fahrenheit with a 21 degree wind chill at the summit, nothing new for a group of hardened east coast skiers looking to claim their first ski session in September.

Poe will have to wait a couple more months before the east coast ski season officially gets underway, but here's hoping his mission on September 8th, 2024 was enough to scratch the itch for the time being.

East Coast skiers are a different breed, and I won't let you convince me otherwise. Our lack of snow for 9+ months of the year drives us crazy , but I wouldn't have it any other way. Cheers to Poe and crew for making me proud to have grown up as an East Coast skier, and respect for being the first skiers in the entire region to technically log a day on snow!

Related: Arapahoe Basin Notches Season's First Snowfall

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