Regina’s boarded outdoor rinks temporarily closed due to warm spell

The heat is on but the City of Regina is hoping for a cooldown when it comes to outdoor rink season.

The warmer-than-normal temperatures have led the city to temporarily close all 26 of its boarded outdoor rinks due to safety concerns.

“The weather has been perfect for bike riding and skateboarding and rollerblading, however our outdoor rinks are (being impacted) from all this warm weather,” said Ray Morgan, the manager of parks maintenance and cemeteries with the city.

“We have 26 boarded rinks and what we have done right now is we have temporarily closed them just because it’s been so warm and it’s not safe for the public to be using them right now. Until we get some colder weather, our crews are really assessing the conditions whether they can be maintained (and) once we get some colder weather, if it is possible to keep on maintaining them.

“It might come to a point where we may need to make a decision whether they will remain closed or if we can get open them for a couple more weeks out of the year.”

Morgan said the city has 56 rinks in total, including 30 that are unboarded. Those unboarded rinks use snow banks to set up the perimeters of the rinks.

“There’s no snow so they are almost lost at this point,” he said. “The boarded rinks, they are still a possibility but let’s get through this week and we can find out whether they can be maintained for the rest of winter.

“Right now, the ice is soft and for any skating, it is dangerous. Where the sun is exposing the ice, on the north side of the rink, the ice is pulling away from the boards. In some cases, we have one to two feet of ice that is pulled away from the boards on the inside of the rinks.

“There are high spots in the rink and some of the asphalt is showing and in some places, some gravel is showing. It’s just not safe for the public to be on there with skates.”

Morgan said that normally we see these type of weather conditions near the end of February.

“We need consistent freezing temperatures – overnight -5 to -10 (C) and even during the day, from -5 to 0 (C). It would be great to have -10 during the day and -10 during the evenings. That would really build up our ability to move fast on the rinks and get things flooded again,” he said.

“But when they are above-zero temperatures during the day, we are limited to what we can do.”

Information on the city’s rinks can be found on its website.