Saturday, February 14, 2015

Late Winter Snow Depth








  1. It's worth noting that the start in Anchorage is ceremonial. The race stops shortly after the start. The race actually begins (except for this year and in 2003) in Willow about 50 miles north. And since this race is starting in Fairbanks most of the trail isn't the same as other years.

  2. Sorry I'm late to this post, but as an Iditarod veteran and close watcher of race trail conditions, I think it's also worth noting that the problem areas of the trail (the leeward side of the Alaska Range) are always relatively snowless and rough. There is a distinct snow shadow in the winter extending from Rainy Pass most of the way out through the Farewell Burn toward Nikolai. What's most discouraging to me is that the Fairbanks option is realistically "safer" every year, and now the Board will have to figure out which years in the snow shadow are worse than others. There used to be a weather reporting station at Farewell Lake... I'm curious if they had any sort of snow depth data over the long term.

    1. Andy, thanks for the comment and for pointing me to the Farewell Lake data. That station has essentially complete snow depth data in February and March from 1986 through 2000 and then for 2004 and 2007. In those 17 years, the mean Feb-Mar snow depth was 7.7". However, the mean snow depth was less than 4" in 8 of 17 years. So this very much supports the idea of a snow shadow and indicates that poor race conditions are nothing new in that area.

      I'll see if I can post a chart later today.

      By the way, congratulations on your Iditarod experience!

    2. I posted a chart of the distribution of snow depth through the winter at Farewell Lake.

  3. Thanks Richard! Interesting to see how there is a dearth of snow in February. I think the race has lucked out a few times on that stretch of trail, which they usually cover the first week of March.