Canada’s Outdoor Rinks Are Melting. So Is a Way of Life
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/20/climate/canada-outdoor-rinks.html
Source: By John Schwartz, The New York Times
Excerpt: WATERLOO, Ontario — Jack Williams and his sister, Cara, sat in their kitchen watching their backyard rink melt. ...A rink like the Williamses’ used to offer good skating in this part of Canada from early December into March. But on this late February afternoon, the temperature outside was 55 degrees and rain had fallen steadily all day. ...Mr. Williams is finding it hard to maintain the ice in a warming world. “There’s a huge difference between when I grew up and was skating outside, and the last five years of skating out here,” he said. ...Climate change is warming the Northern Hemisphere rapidly, largely because of the greenhouse gases that humans have put into the atmosphere since the beginning of the industrial age. ...Mr. McLeman, with Colin Robertson, both associate professors of geography at Wilfrid Laurier, created Rink Watch, a citizen science project that has enlisted more than 1,500 backyard rink owners like Mr. Williams — about 80 percent of them in Canada — to report skating conditions on a daily basis. ...Climate change does not mean the immediate end of cold weather, as recent nor’easters have shown, but it is putting a squeeze on outdoor skating, a deep part of this country’s cultural identity. Irregular freezing weather is not enough for a good outdoor rink; consistency is key. At least five days of hard freezing, 14 degrees Fahrenheit or lower, is essential to start a rink, Mr. McLeman said. And 23 degrees or lower is required from then on to maintain a good surface. “Any warmer than that and the rink is no longer skateable,” he said. “And that’s sort of on the horizon for us in the second half of the 21st century,” with warmer temperatures and more frequent thaws shrinking the season for outdoor skating. “Is anyone going to put in the effort for just a few, or just a couple, of weeks?”...
Source: By John Schwartz, The New York Times
Excerpt: WATERLOO, Ontario — Jack Williams and his sister, Cara, sat in their kitchen watching their backyard rink melt. ...A rink like the Williamses’ used to offer good skating in this part of Canada from early December into March. But on this late February afternoon, the temperature outside was 55 degrees and rain had fallen steadily all day. ...Mr. Williams is finding it hard to maintain the ice in a warming world. “There’s a huge difference between when I grew up and was skating outside, and the last five years of skating out here,” he said. ...Climate change is warming the Northern Hemisphere rapidly, largely because of the greenhouse gases that humans have put into the atmosphere since the beginning of the industrial age. ...Mr. McLeman, with Colin Robertson, both associate professors of geography at Wilfrid Laurier, created Rink Watch, a citizen science project that has enlisted more than 1,500 backyard rink owners like Mr. Williams — about 80 percent of them in Canada — to report skating conditions on a daily basis. ...Climate change does not mean the immediate end of cold weather, as recent nor’easters have shown, but it is putting a squeeze on outdoor skating, a deep part of this country’s cultural identity. Irregular freezing weather is not enough for a good outdoor rink; consistency is key. At least five days of hard freezing, 14 degrees Fahrenheit or lower, is essential to start a rink, Mr. McLeman said. And 23 degrees or lower is required from then on to maintain a good surface. “Any warmer than that and the rink is no longer skateable,” he said. “And that’s sort of on the horizon for us in the second half of the 21st century,” with warmer temperatures and more frequent thaws shrinking the season for outdoor skating. “Is anyone going to put in the effort for just a few, or just a couple, of weeks?”...