BAZETTA — Police are urging people to stay off the ice at Mosquito Creek Lake, as it is “extremely dangerous at this point.”

Most experts, including the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, recommend staying off frozen waterways until ice is a minimum of 4 inches thick.

While temperatures last week dropped into the negatives, bringing a freeze with winter’s first major storm, the National Weather Service forecasts temperatures rising to the low 50s by Friday. Water stays frozen only below 32 degrees.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers listed Mosquito Lake’s water temperature as 33 degrees on Monday.