Not too many changes to the trail report at this time since a few days ago – which is quite good news. We will certainly not loose any of our snow – there are some questions about how much additional snow we might get from lake effect between now and race weekend however. At this time we expect new snow to be highly variable across the marathon course as there will be very cold, dry, air dropping in out of the north. Forecasts indicate there will be some lake effect snow and north to north east winds over the next few days, but because it is very dry air, the lake effect machine may not turn on all that much. Some reports indicate up to 6 inches of new snow in places…other reports are less generous at 1-3. The bigger story for us to watch is the potential for very cold temperatures. This is good for now as we needed some deep cold for our water crossings (creeks, and the slush layer under the snow that is on top of lake crossings). These very cold days and nights will take care of those areas. What we don’t know yet is what the temperature outlook will be for race weekend. There is strong confidence that it will be cold, but just how cold it gets is still uncertain. The National Weather Service will be once again providing detailed Noquemanon weather reports for us and we’ll keep everyone up to date on what the experts are saying. Either way, course conditions will be very good.
