The Hydrologic Forecast Centre of Manitoba Infrastructure is advising the public of potentially hazardous ice conditions on rivers, lakes and drainage ditches throughout Manitoba as the spring thaw commences.
While the ice may appear normal, it may be very thin and no longer support people and heavy objects such as snowmobiles and vehicles.
Use of the rivers, lakes, floodways or drainage ditches for activities such as skiing, sledding and snowmobiling could be hazardous at this time and should be avoided. People living near waterways should be especially careful to prevent children and pets from wandering onto the ice.
Daily temperatures are warming gradually and are causing ice thickness and strength to deteriorate. The quality of river ice within communities is also uncertain, so citizens are advised to stay off rivers and retention ponds.
Manitoba Sustainable Development advises ice fishing shelters should already be off of the Red River. Shelters must be removed by March 31 in the rest of the southern division and by April 15 in the northwest, north central and northeast divisions, or when requested to do so by a conservation officer due to unsafe ice conditions.
