Summer heat creates unique challenge at Huntsville Ice Sports Center

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) – There are a lot of professions, like construction workers and garbage collectors, which require people to work in the heat all summer.

It can be quite a lot, especially when temperatures reach triple digits.

Workers at the Huntsville Ice Sports Center don’t have that problem, but they do have to work hard to keep the ice rink cool when it’s so hot outside.

The building’s internal cooling system has to work a lot harder in the summer.

The Huntsville Ice Center has two ice rinks that are normally kept at about 20 degrees. However, concrete outside the building can reach well over 100 degrees in the summer.

This temperature disparity can sometimes make it harder to keep everything cool inside.

Jim Bowser, the ice operations manager at the center, said the arena’s cooling system works harder in the summer to keep it cool inside.

It works by sending a cooling refrigerant underneath the ice surface.

He said he could adjust the temperature throughout the center remotely if he needed to.

Chantay Coleman, the senior administrator at the ice center, said they often get a big reminder of the difference in temperature between indoors and outdoors.

“When we’re leaving here, we’ll forget to take off our coats, or our scarves, or hats,” Coleman said. “You’ll walk outside and you’re immediately reminded that you have a scarf on and it’s 100 degrees outside!”

One coach at the ice center says he is originally from Canada, so he feels right at home being inside from the heat.

”I don’t have too much experience in this heat, to be honest,” said Connor La Couve. “So, it’s nice for me to step outside and get some of that Alabama sunshine, Alabama warmth. You know, the cold isn’t too bad. You put on an extra layer of clothes.”

Despite the demand on the ice center cooling system in the summer, workers say it normally works well to keep the ice at the optimal temperature.

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