‘Learn the lay of the land’: RCMP issue ice warning amid warmer weather

RCMP say ice surfaces with moving water underneath like lakes, rivers and storm ponds could be dangerous whether you are walking or driving.

The reprieve from extreme temperatures is prompting Alberta RCMP to issue a warning about ice safety.

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Last winter, three vehicles broke through ice on Sylvan Lake in as many days. While there were no injuries reported in any of the incidents, Mounties say they see more people on ice in bouts of warmer weather.

“What we identified (in the Sylvan Lake case) was that there’s an intake from a river into a section of that lake, which makes one area particularly at risk and causes a lot of issues,” RCMP public information officer Troy Savinkoff told CTV News Edmonton on Monday.

He said ice surfaces with moving water underneath, or the potential for the water level below to change, like at a storm pond, are likely not appropriate ice surfaces to be on.

“Think: You’ve got water, it freezes, and then the water drops. Now you’ve got ice floating upon air, really,” Savinkoff said.

Other signs of a potentially dangerous ice surface include big cracks, water sitting on top of ice, or perhaps the colour of the ice: Blue ice is considered the safest, white ice usually means the ice is refrozen, and a dull greyish colour means the ice is saturated with water and likely not very strong.

RCMP recommend following the 8-10-12 rule: “Eight inches is good for people, 10 inches is good for ATVs (and) 12 inches is good for a vehicle.”

Of activities like ice fishing, Savinkoff added: “Learn the lay of the land before you go out there. Especially with a vehicle; that’s where we see a lot of the real risks.”

He also issued a reminder to obey signage near ice surfaces, which often denote unsafe conditions.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Dave Mitchell