Mushers shrugged off jackets and dogs sunbathed in the snow as temperatures hovered around 40 degrees — hot by Alaska winter standards.

After he lost the trail, Jeff King stopped his dog team and draped his sleeping bag over his head to block the battering wind and blowing snow. He was somewhere between the villages of Ambler and Shungnak in the Kobuk 440 Sled Dog Race. Conditions ranged from howling to furious. King lay down with his team. He cuddled a dog named Twister and tried to sleep. That’s when a flaw in the plan rattled his bones. The work of getting there had caused him to sweat, dampness worsened by blowing snow that found its way inside his clothing.

A lack of chum salmon is causing pain in riverside communities of Yukon and Alaska, as mushers are left without a traditional source of food.

Poor trail conditions have pushed the Kuskokwim 300 Season Opener race back another week.

Usually, in March, the Bering Sea ice is reaching its thickest extent. But from the beach in Unalakleet, the full horizon is blue ocean water, punctuated infrequently by lone icebergs.

Some mushers worried what the warm weather would mean for the trail ahead.

For a March evening in the Interior Alaska village of Nikolai, Tuesday was warm.

For the second time in three years, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race will move its official start from Willow to Fairbanks due to poor trail conditions that race officials determined unsafe.