ST. PAUL, Minn. –The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, will begin taking this year's annual Lake Pepin ice measurements Feb. 17.
The Corps takes ice measurements on Lake Pepin annually to forecast the navigational outlook on the Upper Mississippi River. Located on the river between Red Wing, Minnesota, and Wabasha, Minnesota, Lake Pepin is the location of choice for these measurements because it’s the last part of the navigation channel where the ice breaks up due to slower river currents.
A Corps survey crew uses an airboat and a global positioning system to collect the data. The information is used by the navigation industry to predict when it's safe to break through the ice and begin the 2016 navigation season.
Last year, the Motor Vessel New Dawn was the first tow to pass through Lake Pepin and reach St. Paul, Minnesota. She arrived March 25, 2015. The average opening date of the navigation season in St. Paul for the last 10 years is March 24.
Ongoing work at Lock and Dam 9, near Lynxville, Wisconsin, until March 17, will prevent tows reaching Lake Pepin until after the construction is complete.
Normally, ice measurements are completed weekly, or biweekly, until the navigation season begins. The data will be posted on the St. Paul District’s website. For figures on past and present Lake Pepin ice measurements, see: http://www.mvp.usace.mil/Missions/Navigation/IceMeasurements.aspx.
The nearly 600 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, employees working at more than 40 sites in five upper-Midwest states serve the American public in the areas of environmental enhancement, navigation, flood damage reduction, water and wetlands regulation, recreation sites and disaster response. Through the Corps’ Fiscal Year 2015 $100 million budget, nearly 1,600 non-Corps jobs were added to the regional economy as well as $155 million to the national economy. For more information, see www.mvp.usace.army.mil.
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