A low pressure system coming up from Texas is expected to head towards the great lakes Thursday night and Friday bring very mild and moist air into most of Southern Ontario.  With temperatures expected to rise to the double-digits on Saturday, the OPP is warning snowmobilers, anglers and the like to stay clear of the ice.

“The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs (OFSC) remind
snowmobilers that no ice can be considered to be 100 percent safe to ride on a snowmobile. This is especially true in early winter when ice is newly forming, during any prolonged period of thaw or rain, and late in the season after ice begins deteriorating from milder temperatures.”states a news release from the OPP.   It continues, “To avoid unnecessary risks, the OPP and OFSC recommend that snowmobilers stick to available, land-based OFSC trails whenever possible.”

There are already reports of rapidly deteriorating ice on Lake Simcoe.

Southern Ontario is also expected to get between 10 to 20 mm of rain on Friday which would add to the ice deterioration.

The rain and the melting snow could also make rivers and streams more dangerous due to high water levels and unsteady river banks.