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Coming Freeze Could Help Winter Activities

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- There is a season for everything, and sometimes those seasons all happen on the same day in Minnesota.

While freezing rain closed schools in Duluth and turned roads into ice rinks in northern Minnesota, actual ice rinks in the Twin Cities had to close to skaters and hockey players after days of warmer weather and rain.

But the state is about to get in synch.

The metro is in for a bone-chilling 25-degree drop by Saturday afternoon, and the freeze could get some outdoor activities back on track.

Edina Recreation Supervisor Donna Tilsner says the recent warm weather forced the city to stop people from getting on the ice.

"We also had to close our warming houses [Friday]," she said. "There is no skating on any of our rinks just because it was too wet and the ice is too soft."

The soft ice forced the city to postpone its sixth annual Winter Neighborhood Night Out.

"We couldn't have it this year, because at 7 o'clock this morning it was 35 degrees, and, of course, we had that rain the night before so we had a lot of standing water," Tilsner said.

The family-friendly event has been postponed until Jan. 25.

In Minneapolis,the kids who work at Wirth Park are the only ones tubing. They say the hill is too wet, too sloppy, too slow.

They expect more people Saturday when the temperature drops.

The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office put out a warning about thin ice.

Area lakes have been thawing for several days, and they want people to stay away until the cold temperatures come back and make things a bit more solid.

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