Shorter

Does it seem strange that the race organizers keep shortening the stages of Paris-Nice? This was posted today on Velonews:

VeloNews: The Journal of Competitive Cycling: "Wednesday's third mountainous third stage across the Massif Central was supposed to run 180km from Thiers to Chambon-sur-Lignon, but snow in the region has prompted organizers to shorten the stage to 118km."

While it is clearly logical that they can't ride through the snow, I wonder if this is a common thing. Were they merely taking a chance when they set the route through the high mountains in March? What about some snow plows?