What to know
- Warmer early-March temperatures in Toronto are melting ice on Lake Ontario, creating dangerous conditions despite recent extreme winter cold.
- The Toronto Port Authority warns residents not to walk or skate on harbour ice. People were seen venturing out onto the frozen lake and one man even fell through.
- Safety experts say residents should avoid the ice or check for cracks, colour, and thickness—while knowing how to react and call 911 if someone falls in.
Toronto is finally beginning to see temperatures in the positives recently, and as the climate warms up, ice around the city is melting, causing some areas to become dangerous to navigate.
After a record-breaking winter, with temperatures dropping below -30 degrees at times, Lake Ontario is now defrosting.
The Toronto Port Authority warns Torontonians to stay safe.
“Ice in the harbour of Toronto is never safe and the Harbour Master’s Office advises members of the public to stay safe and refrain from going on the ice,” the authority said on their official website. “The ice in the harbour should not be walked or skated on.”
Despite this warning, residents were recently seen skating and walking on top of the ice on some areas of the lake, with one man even caught on camera falling through.
Some users on social media have also noted people on and around Lake Ontario in recent weeks, despite a temperature of around 3 degrees.
“[I was] in shock to see the amount of people, with small kids, and pets, running [and] jumping on the lake, even near the area where it’s broken down for the ferry to pass,” one Reddit user said.
“Soon they’ll all be going for a swim,” another Reddit user added.
How to stay safe
Other than avoiding the area, Destination Toronto has released three additional steps that can help avoid falling through the ice.
“When Ontario’s rivers and lakes freeze, new recreation opportunities include ice fishing, ice skating, ice hockey, and even snowmobiling on the ice,” the organization said in part. “But before you head out on the ice, it’s essential to know that it is safe.”
Destination Toronto added that there are several factors to determine ice safety, including the size of the body of water, temperature fluctuations, current of the water, and depth of water under the ice.
The first step in checking the ice is to identify visual issues, such as any cracks, holes, flowing water, slush, or snow. All of these are just some factors that would make walking on ice insecure and risky to navigate.
The second step to ensure safe ice is by looking at the colour of the ice. If the ice is grey, it means water is present and the ice is too thin to walk on. When ice is white and opaque, it is still too weak and won’t support weight for too long. If ice is blue and clear, it’s at its strongest and safest.
The final way to ensure safe ice is by measuring the thickness of it, something Destination Toronto says is mandatory to check.
Residents can do this by creating a small hole in the ice by chipping it with the appropriate ice picking tool, then measuring. Ice should be checked in multiple spots around the lake as strength and thickness may vary.
A safe thickness is dependant on the ice activity that residents are wanting to do:
Skating/Ice hockey:
15 centimetres (6 inches) for one person
20 centimetres (8 inches) for a group
Snowmobiling:
25 centimetres (10 inches)
Driving on ice:
30 centimetres (12 inches) on blue ice
If you fall in
Ahead of any ice activity, residents should know how to get out of a situation where they may have fallen in.
Someone who has fallen in should attempt to stay calm. Slowing down their breathing is crucial as they pull back up onto the ice shelf. This can be accelerated by gently kicking their legs to raise them up.
After coming out of the water, remain low and roll away from the opening back toward the shoreline, while avoiding standing up.
Check for signs of injury, frostbite or hypothermia, such as shivering, red, white and/or cold skin, exhaustion, memory loss, and numbness.
Call 911 immediately if someone has fallen in.
