Mild Winter Leads to Late Opening at Golden Valley Skating Rinks

As soon as Evan Miller heard the ice rink near his house in Golden Valley was finally open, he made plans to break-in his new skates.

“I’ve been waiting and waiting,” Miller said while skating at Lions Park. “It took forever for winter to come.”

While some might not share Miller’s enthusiasm for the arrival of subzero temperatures, this 12-year-old has been impatiently waiting to take his new hockey skates for a spin.

 “I got new skates for Christmas,” he said as he glides around the rink with about ten other kids his age. “I’ve been staring at these skates for a month. It’s about time I get to use them.”

To Miller’s delight, all Golden Valley ice rinks opened on January 18, one of the latest opening dates the city has had in decades.

“It has been one of the most challenging years we’ve seen in more than twenty years,” Golden Valley Park Maintenance Supervisor Al Lundstrom said. “The warm weather and lack of frost really presented some tough conditions.”

Despite the mild weather, Lundstrom said his crew was determined to have at least a few rinks open early.

“The guys worked like gangbusters and sprayed water on rinks at really strange times just to capitalize on the few hours of chilly temperatures we did have,” Lundstrom said. “We were one of few cities that even attempted to open rinks early.”

Their hard work did result in three rinks opening in late December, but 14 other rinks scattered across the city were closed until last week’s cold snap.

So far, it has been a mild winter. According to the National Weather Service, the temperature didn’t drop below zero until six days ago, which tied a weather record for the “latest below zero temperature” reading in Minnesota. It also happened in 1889 and 2002.

While the National Weather Service predicts the above average temperatures will continue through February, Miller and his hockey buddies want nothing to do with warmer temperatures. In fact, he says he feels “robbed of skating time” and hopes winter sticks around until at least April to make up for lost time.