READS LANDING — It looks like it may be a while before the first towboats are able to make it into St. Paul to open the navigation season on the Upper Mississippi River.

Initial measurements on Lake Pepin Thursday showed the ice is 30 inches thick just two miles above Reads Landing at the south end of the lake between Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The ice is 19 inches thick at the north end of the lake. But in between, the ice ranges from 23 to 27 inches thick.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will take the next measurement on March 12.