Yesterday evening as sunset was casting a rosy pink band of light across the frozen surface of Lake Monona near Olbrich Park, two people skated across its newly frozen surface. This morning, a semi-frozen Lake Mendota offered flocks of Canada geese, mallards and mergansers rippling open waters to swim in punctuated by long stretches of flat, frozen lake.
It was a jarring juxtaposition of two lakes in very different stages of settling down for their long winter nap. And a stark reminder of just how unpredictable ice season can be. Not to be too much of a downer for those early season ice skaters, but a 2020 paper in the journal PLOS ONE found that drownings related to unsafe lake ice are on the rise, while other studies have shown that climate change is making lake ice less reliable.
As Sargeant Kyle McNally of the Dane County Sheriff’s Office told the Wisconsin State Journal in an article from 2023, “A repetitive theme I’m getting in this business is that ice is never safe, and that’s not a cliché. It does weird stuff.”
Of course, here at the Center for Limnology, we are big proponents of our frozen lakes. In fact, we hope to gather with huge crowds on a frozen Lake Mendota at the Clean Lakes Alliance’s Frozen Assets Festival in February.
Winter can be a magical time when access to the lakes is open to just about anyone – no boat required. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t steps we can take to minimize our risk when we’re out on the ice.
If you do choose to enjoy our lakes in their frozen state, we completely understand. Just make sure you’re familiar with this short list of tips from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources – especially if you’re the kind of person who is up for heading out on skates before even a single ice fishing shanty has popped up on the surface!
- Dress warmly in layers.
- Don’t go alone. Head out with friends or family. Take a cell phone if available, and make sure someone knows where you are and when you are expected to return.
- Know before you go. Don’t travel in areas you are not familiar and don’t travel at night or during reduced visibility.
- Avoid inlets, outlets or narrows that may have current that can thin the ice.
- Look for clear ice, which is generally stronger than ice with snow on it or bubbles in it.
- Carry some basic safety gear: ice claws or picks, a cellphone in a waterproof bag or case, a life jacket and length of rope.
The WDNR has more, including what to do if you do fall through, on their website and we highly recommend giving it a read.