The Iditarod Trail Committee announced that poor snow conditions made the traditional southern route untenable, forcing organizers to move the start nearly 300 miles north, from Willow to Fairbanks. The novel 1,128-mile route passes through Interior Alaska with a loop on the Yukon River. “We are all rookies,” Big Lake musher Nicolas Petit joked.

The 90th annual Fur Rendezvous Festival kicked off Thursday around Anchorage and is expected to feature its traditional late-winter celebration, despite a winter season marred by low snowfall.

Anchorage has experienced its lowest snowfall from December to mid-February since records began in 1953, with only 4.3 inches, leading to significant changes in winter events like the Iditarod and Fur Rondy due to unseasonably warm, windy weather.

Organizers say they will determine by Feb. 3 whether it’s feasible to run the traditional southern route.

“It’s out of the ordinary but nothing that’s unprecedented,” according to Arctic Valley Ski Area general manager John Robinson-Wilson.

Just under 2 inches of new snow fell the entire month, making it one of the least snowy on record. Last season was the second snowiest on record. The winter of 2011-12 set the record for the city’s snowiest. A few winters later, Kutz said, “we dropped down to minimum snow.”

Officials in Anchorage suggest residents consider shoveling their roofs due to record snowfall and the potential for more, along with concerns about ice dams and roof stress.

Snow dumped on Southcentral Alaska this weekend, with more than 8 inches falling in the Anchorage area and about 5 inches in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. A Climatologist says this weekend has led to a record amount of snowpack this late in the season.

Snow blanketed parts of Alaska’s largest city Tuesday morning, as Anchorage saw an early, though unofficial, first snowfall of the season. It's technically unofficial because none was reported at the National Weather Service’s official measuring spot on the city’s west side.

For many in Anchorage, winter and its accompanying outdoor opportunities are something to relish rather than escape. But residents of the state’s largest city are being forced to renegotiate their relationship with winters.

The snowfall came after Anchorage broke the daily record for warmest Dec. 31, with temperatures at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport measuring 46 degrees.

Though snow is scant in Anchorage, organizers are confident they will be able to host the Jan. 3-8 race series.

A new study quantifies the rate at which Eklutna Glacier is losing its icy mass. Between 1957 and 2010, the loss of glacier mass averaged 5 percent a year.

It has been three years since the Anchorage ski jumping club has been able to hold our New Year competition.

November is usually the second snowiest month in Anchorage, but this year, snow totals are well below average. So far, only about three inches of snow has fallen in the city. November usually sees an average of seven inches by now, with a total of a little more than 13 inches for the month. National Weather Service Meteorologist Dave Snider says total snowfall for the season is also well below normal.

To say Alaska has been snowy this winter is an understatement. Anchorage broke a 57 year old snowfall record Saturday when a storm produced 4.3 inches of snow on Saturday, April 7, 2012.