Washington County Sheriff’s Office: ‘We Never Advocate Driving On The Ice’

As Hennepin County officials on Thursday ordered all cars, trucks and SUVs off public lakes, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office says authorities “never advocate driving on the ice.”

That’s according to Sgt. James Gribble, who said the last time Washington County officials ordered people off a local lake was the winter of 2005-06.

“The ice is never safe,” he said. “You’re always traveling at your own risk.”

Washington County doesn’t typically issue a declaration that vehicles should be pulled off all lakes in the area, Gribble said. “We do it on a lake-by-lake basis.”

Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek on Thursday . Public lake accesses will be closed until further notice. (Snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles will still be permitted on the ice.)

“Folks, it’s not worth the loss of life or serious injury just to drive on a frozen lake," Stanek said. “We’ve had too many close calls already."

A report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has identified January 2012 as the fourth-warmest January on record for the contiguous U.S., according to a release from AccuWeather.com.

"It's warmer this year mainly because of the jet stream pattern," said AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Michael Pigott. "Generally, for the most part of the winter, it has been on a west-to-east pattern. Meteorologists refer to this as a 'zonal flow.' Essentially, we've seen a lot of storms moving from west to east, and not a lot traveling northward or southward. So, anything in the Arctic is staying up there, and anything in the U.S. is staying put as well. If you have north-to-south undulations in the jet stream, you do get warmer air heading northward to the poles, and colder air comes down toward the U.S. from the Arctic."