With several days of extreme cold weather in South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa you would think that everything should be fine to walk out on the lake to drill that ice fishing hole right? Best to be safe and go through your pre-ice fishing checklist.

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Of all the cool new ice fishing gifts you opened for Christmas, nothing is more important than the lifejacket. Our South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks Department (SDGFP) encourages everyone, including those who have years of ice fishing experience, to double-check their gear.

ICE FISHING CHECKLIST

Lifejacket
Safe ice
Drill test holes
Warm clothing
Food and water
Leave the alcohol at home
Charged cell phone
Tell others your plan and timeline

STATE FISHING INFO

After seeing the first ice anglers walk out on a country lake last week, it was a reminder that ice conditions are always changing.

EXPERT ADVICE

Good Advice From Josh Heitkamp

ICE DEPTH

To have a safe ice fishing experience SDGFP reminds us that it takes at least two inches of ice to support an angler, at least six inches to support an ice shack, and over a foot for a vehicle, but that applies to strong, clear ice.

And one other important note, dark or cloudy ice is not as strong as clear ice.

LOOK: Biggest snowfalls recorded in South Dakota history

Stacker compiled a list of the biggest 1-day snowfalls in South Dakota using data from the National Centers for Environmental Information.

Gallery Credit: Stacker

LOOK: The most extreme temperatures in the history of every state

Stacker consulted 2021 data from the NOAA's State Climate Extremes Committee (SCEC) to illustrate the hottest and coldest temperatures ever recorded in each state. Each slide also reveals the all-time highest 24-hour precipitation record and all-time highest 24-hour snowfall.

Keep reading to find out individual state records in alphabetical order.

Gallery Credit: Anuradha Varanasi