A snowstorm on Thursday followed by brutally cold temperatures forecast through the weekend prompted New York Racing Association officials to cancel all four scheduled racing days this week at Aqueduct.

Racing is now scheduled to resume on Jan. 11.

The four canceled cards come on the heels of three canceled full cards and more than half of another card the previous week at Aqueduct in what has been a particularly harsh start to winter in the Northeast.

In addition to canceling racing Thursday through Sunday, the NYRA has informed horsemen there will be no training those days as well at either Aqueduct or Belmont Park. A decision on when training will resume will be made on Saturday.

A snowstorm that was forecast to bring 5 to 8 inches of snow to the New York Metropolitan area _ and more on Long Island where most of the horses are based at Belmont Park _ as well high winds forced the cancellation of Thursday’s card.

Following the snow, brutally cold temperatures are in the forecast Friday through the weekend with wind chills at or below zero.

Temperatures are forecast to soar into the 30s next week and racing should resume on Jan. 11, which begins a five-day race-week culminating with a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday card on Jan. 15.

NYRA now has six stakes races it needs to reschedule including the $150,000 Jerome, a race originally carded for Jan. 1 that offers qualifying points to the May 5 Kentucky Derby. There are five $100,000 stakes restricted to New York-breds that also need to be rescheduled.