News Flash: Ice-out at Lake Minnetonka Journey North Ice-Out Observation Posts Lake Minnetonka Thursday, April 19 is the official ice-out date for Lake Minnetonka near the Journey North headquarters in Wayzata, Minnesota. This compares with March 18 last year, and we have a closest-call winner! CONGRATULATIONS to. . .Mrs. Nunnally's Second Grade Class at Peter Woodbury School in Bedford, NH, who did it again! They won closest call for Walden, and now came within ten days for Lake Minnetonka. What a winning streak! "Mrs. Nunally's second grade class predicts that the ice will go out on Lake Minnetonka on APRIL 29, 2001." (NUNNALLYR@sau25.net) Try This! Analyzing 115 Years of Ice-Out Records We've made a "scattergram" that includes all the ice-out dates for Lake Minnetonka from 1887 to 2000. Our step-by-step directions make this easy and fun! Scattergram After you see the scattergram, come back and discuss as a class: People concerned about global warming use ice-out dates as one measure of climate. Do you see a warming trend, based on data from this lake? How else might you display the data? Introducing the Next Official Ice-Out Observation Post Tanana River Next in line to thaw should be the Tanana River (65.5N, 149.0W). The river is at the Nenana, Alaska Ice-Out Observation Post. To help in your prediction, see the Tanana's ice-out dates for the past eleven years: Year Month Time 1990 April 24 5:19 p.m. 1991 May 1 12:04 a.m. 1992 May 14 6:26 a.m. 1993 April 23 1:01 p.m. 1994 April 29 11:01 p.m. 1995 April 26- 1:22 p.m. 1996 May 5 12:32 p.m. 1997 April 30 10:28 a.m. 1998 April 20 4:54 p.m 1999 April 29 9:47 p.m. 2000 May 1 10:47 a.m. 2001 -- YOUR GUESS HERE! For records of breakup times since 1917 and more great links to help you make your contest prediction, see: Breakup times since 1917 Then don't miss your chance to enter our 2001 Ice-Out Contest by sending us your answer to this question: Challenge Question #25: "When do you predict ice-out will occur on the Tanana River in Spring 2001?" (To respond to this question, please follow the instructions below.) How to Respond to Today's Challenge Questions: IMPORTANT: Answer only ONE question in each e-mail message. 1. Address an E-mail message to: jn-challenge-spring@learner.org 2. IMPORTANT: In the Subject Line of your message write: Challenge Question #25 3. In the body of the message, give your answer to the question above. Copyright 2001 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form