(Spirit Lake)– The much colder than normal temperatures for this time of year have resulted in ice forming on some of the Iowa Great Lakes. In fact, most of the sloughs and shallow lakes are completely locked in ice in many areas of northwest Iowa.
With that being the case, some may be tempted to try to walk out on that ice, and actually have been. Steve Reighard, an enforcement office with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says a lot of that ice froze quickly and is still very unsafe…
“Ice will form quicker when we don’t have snow cover on it because snow is an insulating factor. But with temperatures fluctuating up and down, current underneath the ice, we do have high water levels this year going into the season, that’s going to change how the ice freezes compared to years of low water conditions, so. I’ve seen people actually standing on ice on some of the marshes, some of the trappers are checking them out. There again, you know, use a spud bar, too with you, to go out ahead of you. Check the ice for safety. But right now as far as the big water goes I would not venture out on it at all.”
Reighard adds that ice never forms uniformly.
