Around New England, lack of snow is hampering sled dog races. A race in Hamilton, Mass., was postponed and then canceled; a race in Tamworth, N.H., was canceled, as well. Canadian races have been on, however; they have had bountiful snow up there.
Here in New Hampshire, snowfall has been notably aberrant. After a massive October storm yielded 22 inches of snow, the region has seen little more. In November, 2.7 inches fell, in December, 0.6 inch, in January 10.3 inches, and so far, nothing in February.
That’s 22.1 inches below normal since Dec. 1, according to the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine.
John Cannon, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said the nearly snowless season is due to cold weather trapped in Alaska that the jet stream is not pulling down.
“All the cold air is locked up,’’ he said. Cannon said the pattern is likely to hold for the coming weeks.
The paucity of snow has made for a sportless winter for many. Snowmobile clubs around here have not groomed trails; cross-country skiers have had slim pickings. The ice-fishing derby in Meredith is on, though some have wondered. To dispel concerns, the website notes in bold letters that the contest has not been postponed.
For sled dogs, who train for months and months, enduring a winter with minimal racing is frustrating, said Keith Bryar, 54, a sled racer who owns the team that includes Candy and Maccey.
“These are work dogs,’’ he said as he stood in his backyard in Moultonborough, where a brood of 40 live in dog houses, in a wooded setting. “They want to work.’’
Bryar has had to haul his dogs to Canada to train and compete this year.
Bryar, too, is frustrated. If he does not race in Laconia this year, his chances of winning the challenge again decrease because his lead dogs, Candy and Maccey, are nearly 8 years old and will probably not race next year. Without them, he said, he wonders if he will ever match the record of his father, whose sled team won the Laconia race three times; Bryar’s team has won it twice, in 2002 and last year.
