Minneapolis officially closes outdoor ice rinks until next winter
MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis residents can officially pack away their ice skates until next winter. All of the city's outdoor ice rinks are closed for the season, the park board announced Monday.
"Long periods of warm weather this winter made it difficult to build ice and even if there were sustained below freezing temperatures forecasted, the sun is too strong this late into winter to build significant new ice," the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board said in a release.
The rinks have actually already been closed for about two weeks. In late January, just days after an historically late opening, the park board announced the rinks would be closed until further notice.
The city's 45 outdoor rinks typically open the third or fourth weekend in December and stay open through Presidents Day.
This aberrant winter is not yet the warmest on record, but it's trending in that direction. During the winter of 1877-1878, the Twin Cities averaged 29 degrees between the months of December and February. As of last week, the area was averaging 2.5 degrees above that mark, though there are still more than two weeks left this winter — at least according to the calendar.
