Halifax to no longer test ice thickness of ponds, lakes

The Halifax Regional Municipality will no longer be testing the thickness of ice on lakes due to the changing climate.

According to a Wednesday news release from the city, the number of available skating days in the winter has been in decline for the last several years and now ice thickness testing is no longer feasible.

Dartmouth area councillor Sam Austin says tests completed last year on the 70 lakes and ponds in the region showed that none were safe for skating or any other ice activity.

"Last year there wasn't a single day that HRM found ice that was deemed safe to skate on," said Austin, who believes this is a clear indicator of climate change, which has made the ice testing program futile.

"If you think about Lake Banook, we used to race horses and drive cars on this," said Austin. "And before refrigerators, we harvested ice out of here and all that."

Robin Thomson grew up around Lake Banook. She remembers a time when the lake was a hub of winter activity, a sharp contrast to the quiet and barren conditions she's used to seeing these days.

"There were ATVs, snowmobiles, and cars sometimes," said Thomson on the ice. "There would be hundreds of people on the lake."

Now it's a different story. Thomson says it's rare she ever sees skaters on the lake, as conditions just aren’t right for skating.

"You might see a handful of people at one time," said Thomson. "And even then you think, 'That's a lot of people on the ice right now.'"

According to the release, Halifax was the only jurisdiction in Nova Scotia that ran ice thickness tests.

The release also says ice needs to be 15 cm thick for walking or skating by yourself, 20 cm for skating parties or games, and 25 cm for snowmobiles.

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