Sources: Homeland Security and Emergency Management, Minnesota.
Learn more about Winter Water Safety and ways you can stay safe in the cold.
While freezing winter temperatures keep many adults indoors, children may want to play outside all day. Each year, emergency rooms in the United States treat thousands of children for injuries related to sledding and ice skating. Frostbite is also threat for children.
Drowning incidents are preventable.
When is ice safe? There really is no sure answer. You can’t judge the strength of ice just by its appearance, age, thickness, temperature, or whether or not the ice is covered with snow. Strength is based on all these factors. In addition the depth of water under the ice, size of the water body, water chemistry and currents, distribution of load on the ice and local climate conditions all play a factor.
Stay off of ice. Unless a lake or pond has been checked by an adult for thickness and safety, don’t go out on the ice.