Changing Lake Ice: How Climate Change Is Redefining Winter Culture and Safety on Madison's Frozen Lake

Shortwave reporter Burley McCoy travels to Madison, Wisconsin to cover Frozen Assets, an annual festival on Lake Mendota that uses thick ice for ice hockey, curling, ice skating, and even a skydiver landing on the ice. The piece examines how warmer winters and thinner ice threaten the festival and the local winter culture, including safety challenges and the need for lake rescue training. Experts Hillary Dugan and James Ti discuss winter weirding and the social-ecological stakes of ice cover, while McCoy and a Madison lake rescue team demo rescue procedures in a Gumby-style immersion suit. The episode links local changes to broader climate trends and hints at future ice-free winters for many lakes.

Overview

NPR's Shortwave travels to Madison, Wisconsin to explore Frozen Assets, a winter festival that unfolds on Lake Mendota when the ice is thick enough to support activities like ice hockey, curling, and ice skating. The segment paints a vivid scene of a 14-inch-thick ice surface, a skydiver landing on the ice, and festival-goers warming up with snow cones in subfreezing temperatures. The host reflects on a recent trend where ice can be absent or unreliable, threatening the festival’s very existence and the winter traditions of northern communities. The piece connects these local nuances to broader climate signals, underscoring how lake ice acts as a barometer for changing winters in the north.

Ice Culture and Community Significance

The report emphasizes that ice-centered culture is deeply embedded in Madison, where residents routinely engage with the two lakes surrounding the city during winter. The Frozen Assets event, which has occurred for more than a decade, showcases a community-building ritual around the ice, even as experts warn that ice thickness and safety are increasingly variable. The show notes highlight that in some years the festival has had to shift ashore when conditions fail to materialize as expected, illustrating how climate variability disrupts traditional winter activities.

“50% of those drownings are related to air temperature” – Sena Sharma, global change biologist at York University.

Safety on Thin Ice and Rescue Training

A key portion of the piece follows Madison's lake-rescue team as they train for emergencies on Lake Monona, where open water near a river inlet presents ongoing hazards. Dressed in Gumby immersion suits, reporters participate in a simulated rescue that exposes the physical challenges of moving on fractured ice and pulling a Person in the rescue sled to shore. The segment also discusses common ice conditions, including the difference between black ice and white ice, and how varying air temperatures affect ice stability and rescue operations. The program emphasizes the real risk of cold water immersion and the limits of safety even with professional responders on the scene.

“We’ll just have these really cold polar vortex events followed by heat waves” – Hillary Dugan, festival scientist.

Climate Signals, Projections, and Policy Implications

The narrative situates Frozen Assets within the climate story, noting that climate change is likely to reduce ice-covered days and shorten the season. Sena Sharma cites global data showing thousands of drownings related to winter ice across multiple countries, with warmer winters and freezing-thawing cycles creating weak ice. The piece cites projections that 10 to 28 days of ice cover could be lost by the end of this century and up to 5700 lakes may become permanently ice-free, a development that would alter winter infrastructure, ice roads used by remote Indigenous communities, and the broader cultural landscape of northern regions.

The episode closes with a reflection that, while the loss of reliable ice could reduce some cold-water dangers, it would also erode a vital part of winter life for many communities. Festival organizer James Ti frames the transformation as a call to action, saying that care can mobilize people toward protective measures and climate solutions.

Takeaways and Next Steps

The show notes invite listeners to view photos from the ice rescue training and Frozen Assets, and tease additional reporting on changing lake ice in a forthcoming episode. Viewers are encouraged to follow the show on their preferred app to stay updated on future installments.

“Once people care about something, then they’re going to want to protect it” – James Ti, executive director and founder, Clean Lakes Alliance.