Winter in Minnesota is rarely routine. With all the snow and cold we get in northern Minnesota, it’s the perfect place to hold an ice fishing contest, or a snowmobile exhibition, or a sled dog event. Yet some winters, those things are canceled … because there’s no snow. Or it’s too warm. Or even because it’s so cold.

Our ski hills have been mostly closed for a week. Who would ski when the temperature barely gets above zero degrees? Not many. And of course there are health risks that go with being outside in the extreme cold. (A number of Nordic skiers are still going out daily, w...