Stephens Lake to close for ice skating Friday afternoon

Columbia Parks and Recreation will close Stephens Lake for ice skating at 4:30 p.m. Friday after the city opened it up for recreational use Wednesday afternoon.

The lake at Cosmo-Bethel Park in south Columbia was not open for ice fishing because of the ice depth not meeting minimum safety requirements of 4 inches.

The lake must close for the weekend as “temperatures are forecasted to be above 60 degrees,” the city said in a press release.

The city was able to check the ice depth by “drilling holes through the ice at several locations, beginning from the shoreline and working toward the center,” the release said.

After days of extreme cold mid-Missouri began thawing out Friday with high temperatures in the 40s under sunny skies. Highs were expected to reach the high 50s Satuday and the mid-60s Sunday.