Thin cover, with just a couple of inches of new snow on ice and gravel. But the groomers at Minnewaska State Park have groomed some trails. Full report from jorge.gomes@parks.ny.gov to Google group Mid Hudson Valley Cross Country Ski this morning:

The following trails were groomed:  Upper Awosting (green) – two passes with the Ginzu drag attachment,  Castle Point (blue) and Hamilton Point (yellow “H”) only received one pass each with the Ginzu attachment, and Lake Minnewaska (red) was also groomed.  That’s all we will be able to get to with the temperature already climbing above freezing.  The snow base is too thin to set classic track on any of the trails.   Overall conditions are fair to good for skating and fair for classic.

Are your rock skis for skate ready?

Elsewhere and further north, a few inches of snow fell Monday night, allowing Canterbury to reopen trails for skiing, and Northfield to begin the season. In other areas where trails were already skiable, the additional snow just makes good conditions even better!

BTW, did you know that New York’s ‘Staten Island Chuck’ has been correct in predicting ihe lenght of winter 85% of the time over the past ten years, compared with 35% for the more famous Punxsatawney Phil? Unfortunately, Chuck did not see his shadwo so he’s predicting an early end to winter. For more see the NOAA news release on ‘Grading the groundhogs‘.