No snow? No problem for the organizers of the 2012 U.S. Cross Country Skiing Championships at Black Mountain of Maine.

A bizarre weather pattern for most of the late fall and into winter has left most of southern and western Maine without snow. In the Lewiston/Auburn area, the temperature on New Year’s Day pushed 45 degrees.

But for the second consecutive year, weather or not, this major national event will go on at the venerable ski area.

And thanks to increased snow-making, everything should go off without a hitch.

“It’s beautiful here right now,” Director of Media Relations Craig Zurhorst said. “We have a really good base down right now of all man-made snow. Our 3.7-kilometer loop is completely covered.”

And just in time.

The Chicholm Ski Club, located at Black Mountain, along with the Maine Winter Sports Center, is for the second consecutive winter hosting the prestigious event, which will assemble many of the country’s top skiers with hopes of making the World Junior Team, the World U-23 Team and the Scando Cup Team. For several current U.S. Ski Team members, it’s a chance to compete against the rest of the best, and solidify their place on the squad going forward.

Having had the chance to host the event last year gave the club and the mountain a chance to make some adjustments for this year’s event, which begins Monday with heats for the freestyle sprint event. Official opening ceremonies, including the presentation of a flag once flown over the U.S. Capitol (courtesy of Senator Olympia Snowe), will begin at 11 a.m., and the finals of the first race of the week are set to begin at noon.

“After last year, we realized the expectations of organizing such an event,” Zurhorst said, “from both the USSA perspective and from our own, and it was much clearer afterward. We got a chance to sit back and talk about what went right and what we could do better. Fortunately, we had a lot more go right than go wrong.”

The biggest concern this year was the snow, or lack thereof. Given similar issues last winter, the club got proactive in the offseason.

“It was a combination of efforts by the Maine Winter Sports Center Black Mountain of Maine and the Chisholm Ski Club getting together, along with some very generous vendors who have allowed us to test some new snow-making equipment,” Zurhorst said. “We’re looking to replace some of our older machines in the near future. Some of the machines we have right now are capable of pushing out 100 gallons per minute. That’s a lot of snow. We’re very happy with where we’re at right now.”

Competitors had a chance to try out the course Sunday over a five-hour testing period. As of Sunday, more than 400 able-bodies competitors and nearly 20 skiers competing in the NENSA Adaptive Sit-Ski races had registered for the event, more in both categories than last year’s event.

Many of the same top-level skiers are returning this year for another shot at a title, including seven skiers affiliated with the U.S. Ski Team, one from the Canadian National Junior Team, and one each from the Brazilian and New Zealand ski teams.

Several skiers from Maine, many affiliated with Bates, Colby and Bowdoin Colleges, as well as several Maine Winter Sports Center skiers are also scheduled to compete this week.