By Geoff Smith (@GeoffSmithLNN on Twitter)

Ice on city lakes not safe despite record cold spell

Jan 2, 2018 | 11:19 AM

LETHBRIDGE – Warmer weather may have people anxious to get back outdoors after the recent cold snap. But despite the record cold, the City of Lethbridge is still urging people to stay off the ice in city parks.

On New Year’s Day people could be seen on Nicholas Sheran Lake, despite the “Unsafe Ice” signs. Kevin Jensen, the city’s parks operations manager, said workers checked the ice in the west-side park Tuesday, Jan. 2, and the ice is not yet considered safe.

“Nicholas Sheran… is about eight inches of ice now, but it’s very poor quality ice,” Jensen said. “There’s seven or eight inches of snow on top of it that’s causing an insulation factor, so there’s about an inch of water standing on top of the ice, and the ice is of pretty poor quality all around.” He added the snow sitting on top makes the ice soft and spongy.

While Henderson Lake had not yet been checked, Jensen said the same warning applies.

“We use an overkill factor,” he explained. “We don’t even check the ice ourselves until (it’s) at least four inches, and no open water is present.”

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He said the ice needs to be at least eight inches thick before crews will start to drill holes and mark skating areas, but it won’t be declared safe for public use until it reaches ten inches of thickness.