As the temperature in Airdrie has fluctuated between unseasonable warmth to extreme cold and now seems to be warming up again, a question on a lot of minds is whether or not Airdrie's natural ice surfaces are thick enough to safely skate on.

Kevin Brinson, Team Leader of the Parks Department with the City of Airdrie, said it's not their place to tell residents whether or not ice is safe to go out on. Rather, they monitor ice thickness and share that information on the City's website for residents to make their own decision.

Brinson explained that they monitor three natural ice surfaces around the city.

"Right now we do Nose Creek Pond, the Summerhill Creek and Waterstone Creek and then we have also done East Lake. East Lake was done just for the sheer fact that we had to have the fireworks and stuff on them, so that one will not be done anymore."

The City does not take machines on the ice to clear those surfaces unless the ice is 10 inches or thicker. Brinson said they have been on the ice to clear the surfaces and shared the most recent measurements.

"The average ice thickness is anywhere between 9.5 inches and 15. That was as of December 27."

Brinson said the City measures and updates ice thickness information once a week.

"What we do depending on the event, if it's not a snow event we typically will do them on a Tuesday. If it does snow and we're trying to do catch up we will usually do them on a Wednesday, so it is weekly."

Once the ice reaches 24 inches, the City stops measuring as frequently.

Even if you think Airdrie's ice is thick enough to comfortably skate on, you should still make sure to stay safe. The Canadian Red Cross advises only going out on ice that is 15 inches thick if you are skating alone, and going out on 20 inch thick ice if you are skating in a group.

Checking the colour of the ice can indicate thickness. Clear blue ice is the strongest, white opaque or snow ice is only half as strong as blue ice. Grey ice is unsafe.

 

Questions, comments or story ideas? Email us at news@discoverairdrie.com