Is climate change impacting Rideau Canal Skateway, the world's longest skating rink?

This study aims to establish a comprehensive understanding of the effects of climate change on the Rideau Canal Skateway of Canada, the longest natural skating rink in the world. Through this study, we can establish that the Skateway season length can be explained by local temperature. Other variables considered in the study are snowfall as well as large-scale climate variations, namely Arctic Oscillation (AO), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) using their annual average indices values. The regression analyses conducted demonstrate that the variation in the season length of the Skateway can be explained by local temperature, and the variation in the local temperature can be explained by the AO and NAO. The ENSO does not explain the local temperature in the Skateway area. Therefore, it can be established that this study enhances our understanding of the complex climate phenomena in relation to the Skateway season length. We recommend that large climatic variables should be taken into account when predicting and planning for the Skateway season in a given year.