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Jan 22 Update on Weather Forecasts

By Jim Dahline, 01/23/17, 12:15PM CST

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The last update post seemed to be appreciated so I'll do my best to update you all through the week. We try to answer questions as fast as we can, and I'll respond to some here that seem to be asked alot. Also, here's an update on exactly what we are looking at and need for this weekend to be awesome.

First, the schedule will be released tomorrow. It's pretty much done, but we go through it over and over to ensure everything is correct. Think of it as a way to make Monday awesome.

Now, onto the weather, and like last time, I'm sharing exactly what I'm looking at. First, the last 48 hours has shown positive movement in the forecast. In particular, the forecast for Sunday has gotten a little bit colder. Our zams work best below 35 degrees. Ideally, we're below 30. As of now, the high temps for each day are below 30.

The forecast also shows a low of 19 for Thursday. We're hoping this gets hit Wednesday night/Thursday morning. If that's the case, and this high of 29 holds. We'll have a solid 16 hours of below freezing temp to freeze up the water which is currently on the low points of all rinks. Combined with a favorable wind and cloudy conditions, we're optimistic. Youth Night will still go on Thursday night, and we'll determine how much skating we can do with the youngsters. We'll err on the side of taking care of the campus for Friday mornings ice.

Thursday night is a low of 19/20. Many of the rinks will be untouched Wednesday night through Thursday night so they will have 24 hours of freezing. Our plan is for the ice crew to run zams to cut imperfections Thursday starting about 10pm. That will get 3 or so runs per rink. If this forecast holds, Friday morning ice will be amazing.

The sub 30 temps Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are best case scenario.

For those asking about how we can even imagine having ice when outdoor city rinks are all closed. The majority of city rinks are ice on top of concrete. It melts easier and in a thaw, goes bad much faster. It also requires more cold temp to get back to normal.

Nokomis has a solid base of hard black ice. While there is water on top, it will freeze much faster when the temps get back below freezing. 24 hours below 20-25 degrees will freeze quite a bit of water.

Hope this all helps. If you have any questions, shoot them in the comments. We've got two more days of warmer weather then it looks like it'll get cold just in time.