E-Club Winter Weather Contest Winner Announced

Sam Iler, age eight (8), of Cornelius, NC won the Grandfather Mountain E-Club Winter Weather Contest. Iler beat out 100 other contestants with his expert knowledge of Grandfather’s frostiest season. Entry hopefuls sent in their weather predictions from North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia and Florida.

While many people answered one or two questions correctly, Iler took the prize with three correct answers. The questions Iler aced dealt with snowfall and low temperatures.

His response to a question asking how many days the temperature would fall to zero degrees or below on the Mountain was exact with the answer of three days. These days were December 8, January 29 and January 31.

He also hit the nail on the head when he guessed that no snow would fall at Grandfather on Christmas Day.

Iler’s prediction of nine inches was enough to earn him another correct answer for the question dealing with the largest two-day snowfall. The exact answer was 9.2 inches. The Mountain received nine inches on April 7 and 0.2 inches on April 8.

“It might be a good thing that we didn’t ask participants to predict when that first, significant two-day snowfall would come,” joked Grandfather Mountain News Director Landis Wofford, “because probably not many would have guessed as late as Easter Weekend.”

Between November 15, 2006 and April 15, 2006 Grandfather Mountain had at least a trace of snow on 26 days and received a total of 38.55 inches of snow. The coldest temperature recorded was minus four degrees on January 29.

Sam’s mother, Christine, said that filling out the entry sheet was a family effort. “We filled it out together. We used the hints provided from previous winters and then we made our guesses.”

The Iler Family will receive a Group Day Pass to come visit Grandfather Mountain. Christine Iler said they had been to the Mountain before but were looking forward to coming again.

“We love seeing the animals in their natural habitats and also the rocks around the Swinging Bridge. It is such a great place for our children to visit because there is nothing else like it around.”

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