The ice may look nice, but officials are warning people to stay off frozen Snohomish County lakes.
A year ago, a 15-year-old boy drowned when he fell into the freezing waters of Martha Lake near Mill Creek.
On Jan. 16, 2007, a series of very cold days had created a thin layer of ice on area lakes. Three teenage boys ventured out, but the ice gave way. One boy made it safely back to the shore and another was rescued.
Sheriff’s divers recovered the third boy’s body in about 25 feet of water.
“We don’t want to see another tragedy like that,” said Leslie Hynes, of Snohomish County Fire District 1, which participated in the rescue effort. “Ice is forming around the edges of our lakes and we want to remind everyone to be safe and stay off the ice.”
Cold Canadian air has pushed temperatures well below freezing for several nights.
It was 27 degrees at Paine Field on Tuesday morning, said Andrew Haner, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Seattle.
Temperatures around some lakes likely were much colder, dipping into the teens and low 20s, he said.
Long winter nights give lakes, storm-water retention ponds and other small bodies of water enough time for thin ice to form.
“If you get a skim of ice out there, it’s just an illusion of strength,” he said. “It’s not strong.”
Daytime temperatures, which have risen to the low 40s, and sunshine weakens the ice, he said.
“Certainly any skim of ice that forms at night is not getting a good freeze during the day,” Haner said.
There’s no reason for people to be out on ice-covered lakes and ponds, Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said.
“No matter how cold it seems, this isn’t the Midwest. The ice here isn’t thick enough to hold people, but the water is cold. And once you fall in, it’s incredibly difficult — if not impossible — to get yourself out,” she said.
Hypothermia robs the body of warmth, and even strong swimmers become exhausted.
Sub-freezing temperatures are forecast to continue at least until the weekend, Haner said. Then, temperatures are expected to rise above freezing but still remain below average for the next couple of weeks.
As the temperature dropped below freezing this week, memories of last year’s late-night rescue attempt on Martha Lake were all too fresh, Hynes said.
“What happened last year is on everybody’s mind,” she said. “Be safe and stay off the ice.”
Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com.
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