Just approximately, how long does it take for a wet sand ring to freeze after temps go from above 32 degrees to the upper 20’s? Not necessarily frozen solid, but to the point of crustiness/hardness that is too concussive.
Thanks!
with global warming, it will never freeze
But a vast number of variables are not given in your question that would determine the speed of freezing. Such amount of rain, mass of the arena, wind speed and direction and many others
So I stick with never which is why I moved to Texas
Is your question how long does it take to freeze? As Canter says, that depends.
Or is the question: how hard is too hard?
In any case, I would say overnight is long enough to freeze everything outside pretty solid, once the temperature dips below freezing. Our paths freeze faster than the hogfuel bark mulch.
I know the answer of ‘it depends’ is not what you want but it is the only real answer.
I can tell you that the sand footing in my sacrifice area freezes pretty quickly if it has been wet before the temps drop. Like said above, over night and the top layer is crusty and bumpy.
Now, frozen to the point of difficult footing depends how deep the frozen layer has gone. That is pretty darn easy to tell just by going out there and walking on it yourself.
We had rain all day Saturday (temps in the low 40s) and it dropped into the 20s Sunday evening. My ring has been frozen solid since…so in my case, it took 2 nights in the 20’s for my damp footing to freeze.
Also - are there trees lining any of the ring? How long were temps above 32* and how much above? How quickly did the temp go to 28, and how long did they stay there?
The longer things were above freezing, and the more above freezing, the warmer the ground, so the longer it takes to freeze. Going to even 25 for a couple hours isn’t going to freeze much below a crunchy surface unless the ring was water-logged
So, the answer could be anywhere from a couple hours to days.
