Along with snow days, severe winter weather experienced this past week in south Niagara brought with it the return of a seasonal feature.
Like natural sculptures, ice volcanoes are wind-driven mounds of ice that form along a lake shore. Earlier this week, several sprouted up overnight along the Lake Erie shoreline in Fort Erie.
But while they might be impressive to look at, people are being reminded to view them from a distance.
Fort Erie fire Chief Mark Schmitt said any time ice forms along the lakeshore there’s a concern people might be tempted to venture out onto it.
He said while the they might appear to be solid structures, these ice volcanoes — or the ice caves that also often form along the shoreline — are not.
He said the way the ice forms along the shore leaves “a hollow void space underneath, and that can lead into the lake.”
And if someone falls through, there’s virtually no chance for them to get out.
“It becomes a drowning problem.”
In 2014 spectacular ice caves formed along the shore in Crystal Beach. The phenomenon was documented on social media, resulting in thousands of people flocking to them, climbing on top, with some treating them like a tobogganing hill.
Crowds got so large over that Family Day weekend it created a traffic gridlock. There were several slip and falls, resulting in calls for emergency service, with ambulances unable to get through traffic, crowds and illegally parked cars.
Eventually the town, concerned about rising temperatures leading to a melt, brought in heavy equipment to demolish the ice caves.
Schmitt, who was attending a conference this week in Toronto and had not yet been made aware of this year’s formation, said he hopes people use common sense and remain safe on solid ground when venturing to take a peek at the formations.
He said while much of Lake Erie is frozen, it is still an open body of water, and going out on the ice shelf carries a great risk.
“Any time you’re exploring ice within open water, it can lead to a bad day.”