Just Too Hot
As if receding glaciers and the loss of vital arctic habitat weren't bad enough, now we have this:
You probably can't tell, but the picture above shows the condition of Reno's outdoor municipal ice rink today at about noon. Normally at this time of day I could look out my office window to see the rink filled with patrons, but not today. Tired of opening the rink every day only to have to close off entire melted sections of it and force patrons to skate in a giant puddle, the city has apparently decided that it can't deny the obvious anymore. This season has just been far too mild for ice skating downtown. Temperatures have routinely climbed into the upper 50's all winter long and the sunshine has been virtually constant. Not exactly ideal conditions for an outdoor, unshaded ice rink.
You probably can't tell, but the picture above shows the condition of Reno's outdoor municipal ice rink today at about noon. Normally at this time of day I could look out my office window to see the rink filled with patrons, but not today. Tired of opening the rink every day only to have to close off entire melted sections of it and force patrons to skate in a giant puddle, the city has apparently decided that it can't deny the obvious anymore. This season has just been far too mild for ice skating downtown. Temperatures have routinely climbed into the upper 50's all winter long and the sunshine has been virtually constant. Not exactly ideal conditions for an outdoor, unshaded ice rink.
posted by Yukon Sully | 5:58 PM
2 Comments:
Speaking as a Reno Recreation and Parks Commissioner, I'm really hoping the weather returns to something more winter-like for the next month or so. However, this first year of the ice rink being permanent downtown is not unlike previous years where we would scramble to move what we joked was the "homeless rink"- from park to park to downtown casino plaza each season. The city is constantly fighting wind and warm days in trying to keep the rink open for business. But most years, they come out on top.
We'll have to see the final numbers at the end of the season (we usually get those at one of our monthly meetings during the summer) to know what the impact of this warm spell will be.
Nonetheless, I'm thrilled with all the use I saw during the holidays- get a warm spell in December and the annual attendance numbers crash. Heck, even last week I saw people skating on a weeknight when I drove by.
For an update on the rink, check out my post from this morning.
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