Cold Weather Lens Problem?

[Stockybod]

Hi all,
I went out today for some snow pics in Chicago. Temp was around 25 degrees, shooting with my D40X and my AF-S DX VR 55-200. Anything above 105, and the auto focus wouldn't work. I was able to take pics in the manual mode. When I tried to auto focus, the focus ring kept spinning back and forth.
Could the cold weather make the lens not to auto focus?
Thanks

[K1W1]

What were you trying to focus on?
The camera needs contrast to focus so if you were trying to focus on a low contrast scene (lots of snow for example) that could have been an explanation.

[mugsisme]

On the Nikonians board, a guy was trying to focus on the sky and he was wondering why the camera wouldn't auto focus. The camera needs contrast, light and dark. If you shooting at snow or sky, there is no contrast, so the camera can't focus. It also has a real hard time in a real dark room. (Ask me how I know! :)) Try aiming at a tree or a person, and see if that is the problem.