Ice Castles’ grand opening in New Hampshire chilled by unexpected warm spell

If you’ve been waiting all year to visit the dynamic colors and contours of ice castles in North Woodstock, you’ll have to wait a bit longer. It’s just been too warm—even in the White Mountains.

In a comment on its Facebook page, Ice Castles announced they weren’t open “quite yet. With the unseasonably warm winter temperatures, we are a bit delayed in opening. We are hoping to open in mid to late January.” The iconic attraction usually opens in December.

We could blame it on El Niño, which according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has headed into winter for the first time in four years, driving the outlook for warmer-than-average temperatures for the northern tier of the continental United States

That’s made for a slow start for the weather-dependent Ice Castles which is constructed by hand, with “hundreds of thousands of icicles hand-placed by professional ice artists,” according to its website. The attraction features LED-lit sculptures, frozen thrones, ice-carved tunnels, slides, caves, and fountains.

According to WeatherWX.com, the average high temperature for North Woodstock in December is 29 degrees. This December temperatures reached as high as 58 degrees according to timeanddate.com.