Lake Pepin ice measures in at thick 29 inches

Last update: February 27, 2008 - 12:39 AM

The ice on Lake Pepin has undergone its annual measuring-tape scrutiny, and the results match what life above the water's surface confirms: It's been a cold winter.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in an update posted on its website, said that the ice layer's thickest point on Lake Pepin is 29 inches. That was found during measuring Friday near Stockholm, Wis.

"The ice is thicker this year than it was last year when we had fairly thin ice," Mark Upward, a Corps spokesman, told the Red Wing Republican-Eagle. "We have more ice this year than in the past several years."

The annual measurements on the lake, located on the Mississippi River between Red Wing and Wabasha, is used to predict the navigational outlook on the Upper Mississippi River. This spot is chosen because the lake is the final part of the river where the ice breaks up, and the current is slower on Lake Pepin than on the rest of the river.

The results are used by the towing industry to assess how difficult it might be for towboats to break through the ice.

PAUL WALSH

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