Is it okay to leave snow on top of the ice for a few days if we aren't getting above 10F? I have about an inch on there now & probably won't get to skate again until Thursday. I'm assuming it'll be fine since it's so cold but I thought I'd ask so I don't potentially spend Thursday night repairing the surface instead of skating.

I always like to keep my ice exposed to the air. What can happen, even in cold temps, is that the ice starts to bond to the snow (don't ask me for the scientific explanation...this will have to do, haha). Then when you eventually shovel it, you're left with a bumpy, orange-peel effect that is tough to skate on and will require a resurface. I'm not certain this happens 100% of the time, but if you're hoping to just shovel it off in a few days and skate, I'd advise you to shovel it now and leave the ice exposed to the air where you can be certain it will be ready to go when you are.

Side note: even when it's below freezing, the ice tends to "resurface" itself with the sun during the day. You'll find that if you skate at night, clear the shavings, then come out the next night, your grooves aren't as deep and many of your skate lines are gone altogether. This won't happen if you don't shovel, though.

I am a huge proponent of 'never leave snow on your ice'. One of the reasons for this is you never know what is around the corner. Mother Nature can be a really big jerk. It never fails that one time you leave some snow on your ice, you get stuck at work and it starts raining or you are all snuggled up in your jammies and a freezing rain storm hits in the middle of the night. Both end up being big messes that are way more work than shoveling a little bit of snow.

That being said, my rink is snow covered right now because I'm just too lazy to shovel it. :-)

Just the way a hockey skate creates a thin layer of melt due to the weight and pressure of the blade, the weight of snow will melt a layer of your ice even in sub-freezing temperatures. This will at best create a bumpy and uneven surface, and at worst turn your top layer into slush. Get the snow off and keep the ice open to the air for best results.

well, we had a foot of snow that stayed mostly snow in the shallow end and 4-5 inches of slush in the deep end. I was not sure what to do so I decided to shovel it. OMG next time I am leaving it. We did mange to clear 90% of the rink but the deep end had 6 inches of water by then and floating chunks of slush. Did the best I could and will figure out what to do after it freezes tonight. The slush did manage to lower the slab around 3 inches in the deep end with all the melting. Not sure how that happened. It is still strong enough to support weight and a slow blower so I guess I was lucky. Now I will have to flood over the next week a little at5 a time to get the slab to where it needs to be. I guess next storm I will have to leave the slush to build up the slab on the top.

Oh BTW I think I had so much slush because being just close enough to the coast raised the temps to 33 which was enough for it to end with a little rain.

Every experience I have is a learning one :)

It dropped your slab 3 inches in the deep end because you probably shoveled away that water. :-)

Yes I did of course. All a leaning experience of what to do and what not to do :)

I'm in a similar situation, and leaving the snow on the ice for now.

I'm worried about the eventual slush mess, but don't have much of a choice at this point: my surface isn't thick enough to stand on in most places. But if I don't get rid of the snow, it's going to take longer to freeze. Not sure what the best move is at this point, but will probably just wait a couple days and see where it's at.

I just went out and wiped snow off a few different spots and got mixed results. Some spots are slushy and some are frozen solid under the snow.

Now I have a different issue. It seems I have developed a leak from the slab pushing down. Now I have to figure out how to fix it. oh joy

I found the leak. It is in the low corner of course where most of the water can go to. Being in the corner might be a tough repair. I tried Tyvek tape and was able to get to both sides but not sure if it is working yet. Time will tell.

Can I just place e6000 over the hole with no liner patch? The hole is not huge and is in a strange position in the corner so this may be the best bet.