ST PAUL, Minn. — Snow is blanketing Minnesota and it feels like winter is here, but that doesn't necessarily mean that ice is safe to be out on yet.

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) says there is no sure answer to the question " when is ice safe ?" You can't judge the strength of ice by the way it looks, its age, thickness, temperature, or whether it's covered in snow. The strength of ice is based on all these things, but also on the size of the body of water, the chemistry and currents of that water, and the distribution of the load on the ice.

The DNR does have a general ice thickness guideline, but experts note that ice is rarely the same thickness over an entire body of water.

"Many factors other than thickness affect ice strength, including air temperature, wind, snow,

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