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Crews Take Advantage Of Deep Cold To Fire Up Outdoor Ice Rinks

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- You'd be hard pressed to find someone who actually likes how cold it is in Minnesota right now, but one group in Eagan is taking advantage of these freezing temperatures.

Eagan Parks and Recreation employees took tankers around the rinks at Sky Hill Park Wednesday, flooding each one with 2,000 gallons of water.

The city is shooting to open their 22 outdoor rinks at eight different parks by Friday, Dec. 20 so that kids can use them over winter break.

This is one of the rare cases where colder temperatures are better.

"We have asphalt rinks, where we flood on top of asphalt, and if that sun hits the asphalt, it can melt very fast," Charlie Fischer, park maintenance supervisor, said.

While the Twin Cities metro area has been under a wind chill advisory the last few days, Fischer says their crews have been taking advantage of it by flooding their rinks round the clock, "from 7 p.m. until 3 p.m."

When it's as cold as we are currently, the water is only liquid for a matter of 10 to 15 minutes or so.

In order to see the rinks packed with skaters for the holiday, we need to hang onto those single digit temps. For some, that represents a kind of optimism.

To find out where all the outdoor rinks in Eagan are located, click here.

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