A modest return to winter

FRIDAY SNOW AND WEATHER UPDATE:
 
Only about 2" of snow fell from Saranac Lake west to Paul Smiths, so no skiing there for tomorrow, Saturday. Later Saturday and into Sunday, we could see 4-6" of new snow. This will be our "share" of a major coastal storm. By now, we should have learned not count our inches until they fall. We can always hope for a sharp "left turn" on the storm's track that will bring more snow; but a rightward move would produce less. we're still looking at a day of above-freezing temperatures on Wednesday, but so far only light precipitation - be it rain or snow. 

Wednesday night the Lake Placid area picked up 3-4" of light snow, but there was not much base for this snow to fall on. Nevertheless, Cascade Welcome Center now reports about 4 km of their easier terrain open on admittedly thin cover. Mt. Van Hoevenberg has 5 km of the competition trails open and tracked, but none of the Legacy trails are shown as open.

Scotts Cobble Nordic Center reports having rolled the new snow, but skiing is not recommended until there is more snow. Paul Smith's VIC has not updated their conditions since 12/26. We'll try to find out more tomorrow for the weekend.

There is a chance of some more light snow this weekend, and then a bigger storm system in the middle of next week. Unfortunately, it will be borderline as far as rain or snow. We will monitor this as the time approaches. 

Meanwhile, the Whiteface Highway probably remains the best skiing outside of the man-made loops at mt. Van Hoevenberg.