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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.”

The Don Bowers Memorial 200/300, the Sheep Mountain Lodge 150 and the Knik 200 were canceled. Twenty-five miles of trail were cut off the Copper Basin 300 in Glennallen, Alaska, because of no snow at the finish line.

“That was crazy with the warm weather,” race organizer Zach Steer told the Times. “It was such a drastic change from last year, but the trail at the end was dirt. It wasn’t safe.”