The Iditarod has been delayed. Seems there isn't enough snow. In Alaska.

[KamaAina]

http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/50924/iditarod+dogsled+race+preparations+hampered+by+lack+of+snow/

As mushers prepare for the Iditarod, Alaska's world-famous,1,000-plus-mile dogsled race, they are finding that one key ingredient is missing: snow.

In Fairbanks, Alaska, where many mushers train, the snowpack is 21 percent of average, and a number of Iditarod qualifying races have been postponed, rerouted or canceled due to a lack of snow, according to The New York Times.

"It's raining and not snowing," musher Luan Marques told the Times during a training run that involved avoiding puddles on the trail. "That's not good."...

Anchorage received 134.5 inches of snow last season, measured from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012. The current season has generated only 39.2 inches, and temperatures have been in the 30s and 40s for some of Marques' training runs, resulting in his huskies having to endure dangerously trudging over dirt patches and bramble.

I know well that many animal rights activists here will rejoice at the delay of the Iditarod and cancellation of several qualifying races. But that isn't the point. The point is that last year, Nome, where the race finishes, was in danger of running out of fuel because of severe winter storms. It took a Russian icebreaker to get a shipment through! And now there isn't enough snow to run a dogsled race??!!

[CAG]

1. wonder what sarah failin thinks about this?? Surely not a part of climate change??

[erinlough]

2. but.....

I went to iditarod.com and there was no mention of a delay. The race isn't on for 24 days.??

[KamaAina]

3. Looks like crappy reporting

Running on ground that is hard or bumpy "can be like running on a cheese grater," said musher Monica Zappa, whose first Iditarod is now delayed because of canceled qualifying events.

They must have meant that she couldn't qualify for this year's race (which would have been her first) because she couldn't finish enough qualifying races, not that this would be her first Iditarod and is now delayed.

[Blue_In_AK]

5. That's what I would guess.

Rookies do have to qualify by running shorter races, and if this is her first time, she's probably having a hard time finding races to run in, although some of them have gone on as scheduled.

[Blue_In_AK]

4. This has actually happened before.

I forget what year it was they had to start in Fairbanks instead of Willow, but, yes, it's been a very mild winter after an extremely cold start in November and early December. It's still basically a month before the race starts, so my guess is we'll get a little snow between now and then.

I should add that last year was a record-breaking year for snow, so it's a little unfair to compare this year to last year. Here in Anchorage we are about 11 inches shy of our average for this time of year.

[quinnox]

6. that makes it clearer

Alarmist stuff is annoying.

[Blue_In_AK]

7. Yes, it is.

Alaska's winters have always been unpredictable, at least as long as I've been here since 1975. Some years are mild with lots of snow, some years are very cold and dry, some like this year have several thaw and freeze cycles. I do believe on the average it's getting warmer up here, but it varies year to year, just like everywhere else.

Summers vary, too, but they're so short, it's hard to draw any conclusions.

[KamaAina]

11. The sudden change from last year to this is precisely what had me worried

that's exactly the kind of climate change scientists are predicting with the overall warming trend.

[Blue_In_AK]

12. Last year was really an anomaly.

We've gotten about three inches of snow here today with more expected through the weekend, so we should be inching up on our average. It's not unusual to get a lot of snow in the spring. It has been really mild, though, at least in this part of the state. Up north they're predicting -40 or so tonight, with wind chills to -66. That's a bit colder than I like.

[Leslie Valley]

8. You are probably thinking of 1991

I attended that year and the week before it had rained and took out most of the snow. When I got to Anchorage a day before the start it was in the low 50's. I was staying at the Holiday Inn on the street where they race out of town and was up all night because of the roar of the trucks and graders bringing in snow to cover the course. (Actually up all night drinking with the "locals" anyway, but that's a whole 'nother story. Man can some of you Alaskans drink!)

Next day, after a breakfast of eggs and reindeer sausage and following the "TV start" we all trucked up to Willow for the restart and they had had to truck snow in for that too. It was 52 degrees in Willow that day.

The rest of the story is that 2 weeks later I was in Port St. Lucie Florida taking in a Minnesota Twins preseason game and it was, ready for this? 52 freaking degrees again.

[Blue_In_AK]

10. I remember 1991

but I was actually thinking of 2003 when they weren't able to do the restart in Willow at all. Everyone had to drive their dogs up to Fairbanks and follow a different trail for the first part of the race. I don't think we'll run into that issue this year.

[pansypoo53219]

9. i go to the alaska volcano cams daily. there is not a lot of snow.

augustine's snow melted away the other day.