KEEP OFF THE ICE
It’s not safe to venture onto Lake Ontario, no matter how safe it looks,
About 22 per cent of the surface of the Great Lakes is covered in ice thanks to a lengthy cold snap. That’s a vast increase on the typical ice coverage in early January of 5 per cent.
The unusual ice coverage is a testament to the freezing temperatures that have broken records, caused deaths and led the city to open more centres for the homeless.
“In an average winter, we would expect to get about 40 per cent of the Great Lakes covered in ice,” said Geoff Coulson, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, who explained that the peak ice coverage occurs in early March.
“So it’s a pretty dramatic difference to see on this chart, that already we have 22 per cent ice coverage across the Great Lakes this early in the winter.”
Ontario faces cold snaps every winter, Coulson said, but the current one, which began around Christmas, is “particularly noteworthy,” due to the consistency of the cold.
Lake Erie, the shallowest Great Lake, freezes over more regularly. By late winter, Georgian Bay is also often covered in ice.
But it would take a “very, very cold winter” to get total ice coverage on Lake Ontario or Lake Huron, Coulson said.
“The thickest ice would be near the shoreline, because it forms the earliest,” Coulson said. “And then the ice builds out towards the middle of the lake where the water’s deeper. And so it can take longer to freeze the deeper parts of the lakes.”
As Lake Ontario ice builds, authorities are saying to stay off it.
Water is constantly moving underneath ice in the Toronto Harbour, due to the Don and Humber Rivers and the lake circulation currents.
“These currents lead to variations in ice thickness and can compromise ice that might look safe to walk on,” said Ports Toronto’s harbour master Angus Armstrong in an email.
“Additionally, ice thickness is not monitored in the harbour, so there is no way to determine if conditions are safe for the public.”
Const. Ricardo Gomez, who has been with the marine unit for sixand-a-half years, said anyone on the ice is in extreme danger.
“You haven’t heard about anything happening in a few years, because the harbour hasn’t frozen over,” he said.
Armstrong said ice-breaking vessels maintain routes throughout the winter for the three Toronto Island ferries, Great Lakes freighters and emergency response vessels.
“Individuals who wander onto the ice may suddenly fall through a spot where a vessel has recently cleared ice,” Armstrong said.
Gomez called going out onto the ice a life-or-death venture.
“People think, in general, that, if you break through the ice, it’s hypothermia that’s the danger. But it’s not; it’s actually cold-shock response.”
Cold-shock response, Gomez ex-
“Ice thickness is not monitored in the harbour, so there is no way to determine if conditions are safe for the public.” ANGUS ARMSTRONG PORTS TORONTO HARBOUR MASTER
plained, happens when you break through the ice and have an involuntary inhalation or gasp of air from the shock of cold water.
“If you inhale that water, what happens is it potentially goes right into your lungs. You don’t swallow; it goes into your lungs. Your neck spasms, your trachea seals and you can’t breathe. Potentially, in the first second, you can black out.” With files from Vjosa Isai