When in a forest or an wild area where there is a lake/river, when temperatures is 0° to -10° Celcius, why wont the water freeze into ice?

Question

When in a forest or an wild area where there is a lake/river, when temperatures is 0° to -10° Celcius, why wont the water freeze into ice?

In: 1

Answer 1

I can think of a couple of reasons. Firstly, both water and the ground are great at holding on to heat so even if the air temperature is below 0, that doesn’t mean the water is.

Secondly, *pure* water freezes at 0, but impurities can keep it liquid down to lower temperatures. This is the reason why we put salt/grit on the roads in Winter – the salt mixes with the water and stops it turning to ice so the roads don’t get slippy