Newbie rink guy here. everything has gone beyond my expectations with the rink. Ice has been nearly perfect for a week now but as many of you know a big warm up is coming through now until Sunday. I just want to know if any of you vets have suggestions to help cope with warm-up periods (i.e. cover the rink with tarp, keep shoveling the slush ect..). no snow in forecast but there is rain coming. I have a 38 x 40 rink white tarp deep end 8 inches shallow 4 inches. I get a fair amount of afternoon sun.

If there is no snow in the forecast, clean any snow off the ice and let it rain down. If you have enough ice and it sounds like you do, you shouldn't lose too much thickness especially if it stays cold at night. Not enough hot sun hours in the day to do too much damage. The rain and warmth will naturally even out any imperfections you might have had in your ice.

I think if there was snow on there now, or if you expected snow during the warm-up somewhere, others might have some input. But for me, with semi-bumpy ice and a few ridges, I'm welcoming a bit of a thaw with some rain. Should smooth out things nicely.

BTW, I vote a huge NO on putting a tarp down. If things melt, then freeze, you might have a nice liner stuck to the surface of your ice. If you could rig up shades elsewhere above the ice, it might help, but I wouldn't make it that complicated. Just ride it out, enjoy some TV at night instead of flooding, and get ready for the next wave of cold.

Let it sit and ride it out. As others have said, rain is your friend in a thaw. You just may end up with better ice than you started with. Good luck,

Jenn