People are heading out onto the ice as this winter has seen enough cold to freeze up lakes and rivers around the prairies.
In doing so, people may be exposing themselves to danger with ice thickness an important concern during the colder months.
Sean Osmar, a spokesperson with the Water Security Agency, talks about the best practices for people heading onto the ice.
"The important thing to remember is ice thickness, it takes time obviously for it to form to safe levels for travel or pulling out the snowmobile or doing some ice fishing. You also have to watch for local conditions because they can change, you know, sometimes even day-to-day if you start getting fluctuations in temperatures up and down or additional snow was added to that."
"What we at the Water Security Agency like to do is just to remind folks that there are certain thicknesses you have to watch for to be safe on the ice. So if you're walking on the ice, generally about four inches thick is where you want to be, 4 inches or more. If you're going to take a snowmobile or an ATV, something like that, you want about 8 inches of ice, for a car or a small pickup, 12 inches, and then anything like a pickup truck 12 inches or more for safety."
Osmar reminds people that they should test that every time they get onto the ice as changing conditions can lead to more dangerous surfaces.
"You have to sort of evaluate it basically every day, every time you go, sometimes conditions can change and you're not too aware of it, but things you want to watch for. You know if there's slushy ice, obviously that's that's a weakness in ice. If there's running water nearby, that could indicate that the ice might not be as thick as you need to be to get out there. Sometimes you get some layering, so if you had some ice and then snow on top of that, it may seem like it's thick enough, but it's not quite."
With a warmer week in the forecast for the southeast Osmar stresses caution for anyone looking to head onto the ice.
"Those are the types of conditions that can lead to weakening of ice. So generally, you know, if the ice is pretty clear and you could see that you know pretty clearly 4 inches or more for walking, that's a good indication. If it looks a little cloudy or again some of that layering or flashiness, that's an indication of those temperature changes. You always have to evaluate it. Make sure that you know where you are at that particular part of the province at that particular time of day. Is going to be safe for you to go."