Warm weather stalls ice development

Anglers are eager to head out and start the ice fishing season, but warm temperatures have kept ice depths dangerously thin.

Communications Director for Parkland Ambulance, Lyle Karasiuk said early reports have indicated it’s going to take more time for the ice to be safe enough.

“We’ve heard over the weekend with the mild conditions folks have been ice fishing. (They’ll) drill a hole only to find that it’s very thin ice or very slushy,” Karasiuk said.

He also advises anglers to check ice depths before driving on it.

“Don’t venture out into the middle of the lake, drill the hole and find it’s pretty thin, then decide to head back,” he said.

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According to a release from the provincial government, 10 cm of thickness is needed to safely walk on the ice, with 20 cm needed to drive a snowmobile or ATV on it. For cars and light trucks you’ll need 30 cm and more than 30 cm of ice to bear the weight of heavier trucks.

Although thickness is important, safe ice should also be free of slush, away from moving water, and free of high pressure ridges.

” It’s good to excersice caution and different types of water bodies tend to react differently, ” Rob Podbielski with the Water Security Agency told paNOW.” A slough that is enclosed as well as a lake, they are going to potentially have good thickness. But say for example the North Saskatchewan River where it’s deep and there’s a lot of running water, that may take much colder temperatures before it freezes.”

He added the province does not check water bodies for ice thickness nor publish data, and just because you may see a posted sign that reads ‘thin ice’, that does not imply other areas without signs are risk-free.

This year’s ice is particularly dangerous due to an ongoing freeze-thaw cycle which creates unstable layers in the ice.

For more information on ice safety head to the Government of Saskatchewan’s website.

ron.quaroni@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @RonaldQuaroni