Snowy weekend will find Common ground

How's this for a weather prediction: There's going to be snow Saturday on Boston Common. That's the day the Boston Parks and Recreation Department teams with Vermont ski areas to bring the first Boston Winter Festival to the city as a salute to the Olympics. Snowmaking began yesterday and look for 6 acres of snow near the corner of Charles and Beacon streets this weekend.

''We are going to show off snowmaking in Boston and make people realize there is winter up [north]," said Vermont Ski Areas Association spokesperson Heather Atwell. ''We are going to bring a little bit of Vermont to Boston."

You can take a stab at snowshoeing or cross-country skiing, or just watch the freestyle skiing and snowboarding in the terrain park.

For those who are heading up to ski country, temperatures have dropped with cold air from Canada allowing snowmaking to return to the Green, White, and Berkshire mountains. Ski areas will be using the window to add to the base and buff up the trails.

At New Hampshire's Mount Sunapee, the guns were out three nights this week, touching up the trails. Spokesman Bruce McCloy says the return of seasonal temperatures means winter started for everyone Monday.

''We had so many lousy weekends in January with rain," he said. ''This weekend the weather looks great and the long-range forecast looks like it will stay cold into the holiday week."

Wachusett's Tom Meyers is hoping the area has a repeat of last February and March, when snow and cold weather saved skiers and riders from a slow start.

''We still have eight weeks of winter left," said Meyers. ''We were just getting into the season's prime last year around this time and had an unbelievably strong finish."

Golden oldie

When the US skiers take to the downhill Tuesday in Turin, an American known for his young, brash days on the slopes will be on hand. Bill Johnson, the 1984 Olympic gold medal downhiller who predicted his Sarajevo win, will be watching. ''The Americans, both Bode [Miller] and Daron [Rahlves] are both really strong," he said before heading over to Europe. Johnson, was in New England recently for a skiing fund-raiser at Cranmore in North Conway, N.H. He used to keep his gold medal out in the open for all to see. ''It used to be on my kitchen table, but my mom made me get a safe," he said . . . The Dartmouth Winter Carnival will see split venues tomorrow and Saturday as warm temperatures have forced the relocation of the cross-country ski races from the Big Green's home turf to Craftsbury (Vt.) Touring Center. The Alpine races will be held at the Dartmouth Ski Way . . . Freestyle champion Wayne Wong will be on hand for Saturday's Jimmy Fund Snow Challenge at Nashoba Valley in Westford, a fund-raiser for cancer research. Wong will hold a clinic before the ski and snowboard racers try their skills on the course. For more information, go to skinashoba.com . . . Cranmore is hoping for a strong showing Sunday for its Race to Beat Cancer. In the past, hundreds of racers have shown up and raised $20,000 in a single day. Sign up at cranmore.com . . . Ski mountaineering comes to northern Vermont's Jay Peak Saturday in the annual Randonnee Race. Skiers not only race down the mountain, but up it, too, on free-heel skis. For information, go to jaypeakresort.com . . . With Valentine's Day Tuesday, several areas are having special two-for-one days, such as Vermont's Bromley and New Hampshire's Wildcat.