Around this time of year, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board is typically busy with the routine maintenance work of getting the community’s outdoor athletics fields ready for the spring sports season.
Not this year.
Minneapolis TV station KSTP reports that heavy snow has caused delays in those plans, which in turn could delay the spring sports season. Crews that would normally be working to prepare turf and otherwise prep the community’s 397 multipurpose fields for spring sports are currently either plowing snow or breaking down ice rinks.
“Right know, there (is) about six inches of frost on a lot of our fields, which means a lot of our brackets for our ice rinks are still stuck in the ground, and that pushes us back even more,” Brett Kath of the Park and Recreation Board told KSTP.
Baseball and softball teams that would otherwise be on the fields practicing for games that are scheduled to begin in a few weeks are unable to get onto fields, and limited gym space means that they aren’t even able to practice indoors.
The park board says that it will try to make up any games that may be lost as a result of the weather delay.
Minnesota isn’t the only area dealing with the harsh effects of late-season snow, however. Fields in neighboring Wisconsin are also covered with a white blanket.
WBAY reports that baseball, softball, track and other events have all seen cancelations in parts of northeastern Wisconsin, and while the cold weather persists, more cancelations seem likely, setting up a hectic start to the season in late April or early May.
“Rescheduling all these games and finding umpires and officials that are available, and then our season ends in the middle of May when we start the tournaments, so trying to cram all that in is a challenge,” Ashwaubenon High School activities director Nick Senger told WBAY.
“Getting this snow off the field is the next challenge because our kids want to get outside.”
