Preparations are ongoing to reopen Canada’s iconic Rideau Canal for skating this winter, but with a warm, wet and snowy season in the cards, officials are keeping their fingers crossed — yet again.
The canal in the nation’s capital, Ottawa, saw its shortest skating season last winter, lasting just 10 days, after not opening at all the previous year due to mild winter conditions.
While this winter is not forecasted to be as warm as the last, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada, above-normal temperatures are expected across much of the country, particularly northeastern Canada.
Each year, the timing of when the Rideau Canal Skateway opens depends on the weather but it typically runs from January to early March.
The National Capital Commission (NCC) that manages the Rideau Canal’s operations is hoping for many days of cold so skaters can get on the ice next month, but they’re also looking to adapt to climate change.
“I’m quite enthusiastic and optimistic to have a good opening in January. Let’s keep our fingers crossed,” Bruce Devine, senior manager of facilities and programs at NCC, said in an interview with Global News.
What conditions are required for the Skateway to open?
According to the NCC, the Rideau Canal skating rink can only open to the public once the surface is at least 30 centimetres (12 inches) thick with good quality ice. And to get there, the NCC says its ice experts need about 10 to 14 consecutive days of temperatures between -10°C and -20°C.
Last winter, the Skateway opened at slightly under the 30-cm benchmark, Devine said, but public safety is their first priority.
They want to ensure that there’s “good quality of ice” that is “very well compacted and solid” and doesn’t have many air bubbles, he said.
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Mélanie Amyotte, NCC’s director of strategic media, told Global News that the decision to open the Skateway is made only when the ice has been “deemed safe for mass use.”
She said conditions are monitored multiple times per day.
Amyotte said the 30-cm benchmark is used mainly as a requirement to support heavy machinery on the canal, but the commission is already implementing new strategies to help create ice earlier in the season, including the use of lighter equipment on the ice and advanced techniques.
“In light of climate change and milder winters, our priority these past several years has been to adapt our operations,” she said.
Devine added that lighter equipment could enable contractors to operate it on ice that is thinner than the 30-cm mark.
An ongoing partnership with Carleton University is also helping the NCC identify strategies to adapt Skateway operations to the impacts of climate change, Amyotte said. These include monitoring weather and water temperatures, and analyzing data and results of pilot projects.
“We will continue to apply various approaches in upcoming seasons, such as early ice flooding, that could help build ice faster,” Amyotte said.
Will more snow help or hurt the Skateway?
Due to the shift towards the La Nina weather pattern, Environment Canada is forecasting increased snowfall this winter.
Having a lot of snow at the beginning of the winter season can help accelerate the ice thickness process for the Rideau Canal, Devine said. But that snow will ultimately have to be cleared out so it doesn’t act as an isolation layer and damage the ice.
“Once we’re good to have the equipment (on the ice), we don’t need the snow on it. We try to remove it as best as we can.”
With weather playing a major role when it comes to natural ice rinks, some municipalities are also turning to artificial rinks.
In Ottawa, the ByWard Market opened up its first winter market earlier this month that will run until the end of February — and it features a synthetic skating rink.
“Unlike traditional ice rinks, this sustainable and eco-friendly 88-foot rink offers a skating experience that’s accessible to everyone, regardless of the temperature, enhancing Ottawa’s winter landscape,” the ByWard Market District Authority (BMDA) said in a statement.
Zachary Dayler, executive director of the BMDA, said the decision to use a synthetic rink was made to give a “consistent offering” to attendees amid changing temperatures, helping draw more people to the market.
Costing roughly $50,000, the synthetic rink can operate in 3 C to -11 C, according to Dayler.
“We know that climate adaptation and resilience is a significant challenge to public spaces, to events, whether in the summer it’s rain or heat. These are challenges that are very real,” Dayler told Global News.
“We looked at it and said, well, how can we be a bit more resilient to the fluctuation in temperatures while still trying to achieve a draw for a winter market?”
It’s a strategy that has been used by the City of Toronto for a number of years now.
The water fountain at Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square is converted into an outdoor artificial ice rink. That rink opened up for skating on Nov. 30.
As for the Rideau Canal, it all comes down to Ottawa weather over the coming weeks.
“If we get the cold, well, we’re then very positive to have a good season,” Devine said.
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