(KNSI) – Summer swept in with gusto this week as record highs baked central Minnesota. Trees leafed out, ivy turned green, flowers bloomed, and boaters are beginning to take to the water.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is warning about the temperature of our lakes and rivers. Outreach Specialist Lisa Dugan tells KNSI Radio that skilled swimmers struggle with cold water like everyone else. “Even if you’re a strong swimmer and you unexpectedly fall into the water, that cold shock response. It’s an involuntary gasp that your body makes, and without a life jacket on, keeping your head above water, that can be a really dangerous situation.”
Up to about 70 degrees, it is natural for the body to react to cold water by gasping. It makes people susceptible to drowning, so life jackets need to be worn at all times.
Dugan says it is important to set the highest bar of safety immediately and maintain it throughout the entire season. Her top tips are: “Check your life jacket. Make sure you have life jackets that are in good condition, that they’re going to fit properly the people that are on your boat, set a good example by wearing your life jacket. Always wear your engine cutoff device. We hear that a lot. It kills the engine. It stops the potential of deadly propeller strikes.”
Another recommendation is to keep aware of the rest of the lake. Make sure you know what other boaters are doing at all times.
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