Ice Safety & Changes

FOCA encourages everyone to enjoy the winter weather, safely.

Our changing climate is changing ice coverage, which has impacts for lake health, and for personal safety. Read onward for information about safety, using bubblers, and the science around ice.

2022 – A new ice safety graphic, from the Canadian Red Cross:

New to Cottage Country? Check out this post from our friends at CottageLink Rental Management, about ice safety reminders for those who may be newer to cottage country winters.

Falling through the ice:

Thank you to the Safe Boating Council for sharing this important video link on how to perform a self-rescue if you fall through the ice:

How is climate change affecting ice?

Many of FOCA’s member groups voluntarily track annual “Ice-Out” dates on their waterways. But are these dates changing over time? What would shorter ice coverage times mean to our lakes and the biodiversity that relies upon them?

Read articles quoting the scientific research of FOCA’s colleague Dr. Sapna Sharma of York University:

June 2022 – Long-term ice phenology [ice freezing & thawing] records spanning up to 578 years for 78 lakes around the Northern Hemisphere (Nature.com)
January 2022 – What loss of ice cover means for lake health (Cottage Life)
November 20, 2020 – How climate change is making winter ice more dangerous (Veronica Penney of the New York Times, as published in the Star Tribune)

Also, watch the video recording of Dr. Sharma’s presentation at the 2021 Troubled Waters Forum, “On Thin Ice: Are Lakes Feeling the Heat?” (YouTube)

See the Ice Out History of Lake Opeongo in Algonquin Park from the past 60 years.

Member Spotlight: citizen scientist ice data collection

February 2022 – FOCA recently received a summary of ice-in and ice-out data collected since 1987 by Patch Laferriere, a member of the Mary Lake Association. His notes clarify that the latest freeze-up was on February 2nd in 2002. (We wonder if this year might break the record?)

This type of long data set is helpful not only when planning outdoor activities at the lake, but provides valuable information about changes over time. See a copy of the data and graphs (PDF, 2 pages) showing a trend toward later ice-on and earlier ice-off.

Hooray for citizen scientists! Thank you, Patch for your efforts. And thank you, Mary Lake Association, for sharing them with all of us. We invite all of you to “borrow” this idea, and start your own local tracking efforts.

Snowmobile Safety Tips:

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs (OFSC) remind snowmobilers that no ice can be considered 100% safe to ride on with a snowmobile. Whenever possible, snowmobilers are advised to stick to available, land-based, OFSC-Prescribed Trails.

If you do make the personal choice to take the risk of travelling on ice by snowmobile, wait until a marked stake line is in place and cross only when you can follow it directly from shore to shore, without stopping on the ice. While ice crossing is never a sure thing, snowmobilers can also reduce their risk by:

Checking ice thickness and quality before riding onto any frozen water
Understanding that ice conditions may vary from day to day, from hour to hour and from place to place
Never travelling on ice alone, at night or while impaired
Avoiding slushy ice, untracked ice, or ice near moving water or dock bubblers
Watching out for obstacles like rocks, stumps, docks, ice roads and fishing huts
Wearing a buoyant snowmobile suit and carrying ice picks

January 2021 – our colleagues at the OPP SAVE Team have some great snowmobile tips for safely enjoying the out-of-doors this winter. Click the links below to view each video:

Bubblers - What property owners need to know:

Bubblers are a type of de-icing system intended to prevent the build-up of ice around waterfront structures like docks or boathouses. However, creating a hole in the water also ‘opens’ legal implications.

Read a 1-page overview about Bubblers (PDF) from FOCA’s risk management colleagues at Cade Associates Insurance Brokers.

On a related subject: while de-icers are intended to protect docks and boathouses from ice damage, improper use can actually create greater chance of ice damage. Read an overview on the subject, from a New Hampshire Lake Association. (Note: references are to American legislation about bubblers.)