The Highlands ice rink has been enjoying some decent weather to start the 2019-20 season in comparison to previous years.
In fact, the weather has probably been too decent, according to Parks and Recreation Director Lester Norris.
“The weather this year has been mild in November, which made for less than favorable ice conditions,” Norris said.
When temperatures remain above freezing, the ice gets soft and makes for less than stellar skating condition, Norris said, but so far this year, the ice rink has only lost two days to weather, one in November and on in December.
“Last year we had a great November but it rained every weekend after that,” Norris said. “This year has been steady, but in comparison to this time last December we are way ahead.”
Norris said the ice rink has enjoyed days so far in December where more visitors skated in one day than skated the first two weeks altogether in 2018.
“We only had 222 skaters through this weekend last year, and already in 2019 we’ve had 510 skaters, plus more than 300 skaters on the ice this past weekend,” he said.
The ice rink opened on Nov. 7 and has been open from Thursday through Sunday.
On Nov. 29, the Friday after Thanksgiving, 437 visitors skated, but totals for the month were down a little from 2018, with 1393 skaters visiting the rink as opposed to 1731 last year.
“So far, it’s been pretty good with the weather,” Norris said. “Our crowds have been more steady.”
Last year, nearly 17 inches of rain fell in December and more than 15 inches of rain drenched Highlands in February. January and March were relatively dry with 9.35 and 6.23 inches of rain falling respectively.
Last winter’s rain impacted attendance by 906 visitors when compared to 2017 totals, according to Park and Rec attendance figures.
In 2018-19, a total of 4,676 visitors skated at the Founder’s Park ice rink as compared to 5,582 skaters in 2017-18.
The most significant drop off in attendance occurred in December 2018, with just 1,471 skaters as compared to 2,580 from December 2017.
This time last year, lingering snowfall blanketed the mountains in ice and snow. So far this year, the weekend weather has been nice, Norris said.
