WISCONSIN - We'll need colder temperatures if we're going to see the ice caves this year, according to workers at the Apostle Island National Lakeshore. The caves were open by this time last year, but conditions aren't as good this season. The ice must be at least 8 inches thick, and there has to be ice in front of the caves for at least a couple of week before people can start walking to the caves. The ice also has to extend out into Lake Superior at least a couple of miles. Meanwhile the ice shelf needs to extend along the shoreline for several miles.
But right now, there isn't any ice. Neil Howk Assistant Chief of Interpretation for the Apostle Island National Lakeshore says workers were actually getting ready to open access to the ice caves last week, but the weather changed. "We were in our countdown period to opening the caves up, until the wind shifted last weekend and broke up the ice shelf and blew it out into the lake," said Howk. The ice will have trouble forming if temperatures stay in the twenties. "Now we're back to square one basically. We have to wait for the ice to blow back in and for the weather to get cold so more ice starts forming on the lake," said Howk. "And so it's going to take a while for that to happen."
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