The county council has also put a number of agricultural contractors on standby to clear more remote rural roads in the event of heavy snow.

BBC: Lancashire Police warning over snow travel

The race in 2010 was the first time the Aviemore event had been held on snow for 15 years.

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The storm isn't expected to be the epic event of last week, which dropped up to 3 feet of snow on some areas and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of utility customers.

WSJ: Heavy snow, strong winds to blow across NE coast

"While they may not be needed during a walk, in the event of an accident, a casualty could be sitting in the snow and ice for over an hour before search teams reach them, " he said.

BBC: Wales snow: Rescuers' mountain walk equipment warning

And Carnegie Mellon's Red Whittaker is already imaging what the next big DARPA-sponsored event could involve--perhaps a 24-hour race of robotic cars through snow and rain, or maybe team racing with coordinated convoys of driverless cars.

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Earlier, Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody had said Belfast was "literally vibrating with joy" at staging the event.

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The event took place on a course that had to be sprinkled with fertiliser to harden up the snow, after days of rain and sleet in Whistler.

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"By all accounts, we are expecting a serious weather event, " he said, adding that the storm was likely to start as a light snow on Friday morning and become heavier as the day goes on, with the worst coming between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.

WSJ: Northeast Braces for Major Blizzard

On the valley floor stands the frozen lake of St Moritz -- home to an unlikely event of similar vintage -- "White Turf" -- horse racing on snow and ice.

CNN: Cool racing: Horses battle on snow