Authorities urge people to stay off thin ice in delayed start to winter season

No deaths have been reported on Minnesota lakes and rivers so far this winter, but authorities have responded to several close calls and are urging people to stay off lakes and rivers that have been kept from fully freezing by atypically warm weather.

Many Twin Cities lakes and rivers still have open water, according to the DNR’s tracking of “ice-in” dates, when a lake is frozen over. Lake Minnetonka almost beat its record for latest ice-in, with the Freshwater Society declaring it frozen over on Dec. 31, just shy of the latest ice-in date of Jan. 2, recorded in 2002. It usually freezes over by Dec. 7.

http://www.startribune.com/authorities-urge-people-to-stay-off-thin-ice-in-delayed-start-to-winter-season/364033961/