From freezing to melting in days, warmer weather is creating some issues for Edmontonians

Temperatures have been on the upswing over the last few days and while the warmup is welcome for a lot of Edmontonians, it’s creating some issues for city crews, residents and festival organizers.

From Tuesday to Sunday, Edmonton had a 28-degree shift in temperature, according to CTV News Edmonton’s Chief Meteorologist Josh Classen.

The afternoon high on Feb. 3 was -18 C, whereas on Feb. 6 the temperature jumped to 10 C.

“With arctic air you’re either in it or out of it,” Classen explained. “There’s often not a very broad area of in-between temperatures.”

“We can quite easily go from bone-chillingly cold to super melty.”

The constant cycle of freezing and melting is also wreaking havoc on residential streets with ice chunks plugging up catch basins.

Andrew Grant, the general supervisor of Infrastructure Operations with the City of Edmonton said about 1,003 catch basins have been cleared out of a total of 1,468 locations with notification requests.

“Crews are working 24 hours a day to clear these,” he noted.

Edmonton catch basin. (Source: CTV News Edmonton's Brandon Lynch)

And in some neighbourhoods the pavement is as slippery as the skating rink, making it hard for people and even their pets to get around.

“That’s why we came down here. It’s so icy you can’t walk down the sidewalk,” an Edmonton resident out for a walk with his dog explained.

As for the actual outdoor skating rinks, Bryan Turner, team leader with River Valley Parks and Facilities, said -5 C would be their ideal temperature to keep rinks open.

“Once the temperatures are getting close to 5 C we’ll probably have to stop flooding in the mornings,” he added.

“Surface quality gets a little too bumpy or slushy for people to skate.”

Meanwhile, ice carvers and organizers for the Silver Skate Festival are also hoping for a slight cooldown in the coming days.

Erin DiLoreto, the festival producer, said -6 C would be perfect for their event.

“Oh, Mother Nature always likes to throw us a curveball,” she laughed.

“This is not the first time we’ve had warmer temps. I'm just hoping we don’t see the Canadian geese or the mallard ducks like we have in years past, that's when we really start getting worried.”

The festival will run from Feb. 11 to 21 in Hawrelak Park.

For updates on city rink closures, click here.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Touria Izri