About the Ice-out Study

Background


When the ice cover melts from lakes, rivers, ponds and oceans it's a welcome sign of spring. This event is known as "ice-out." Ice-out dates are one way to measure the greening of springl, and dates can be compared from year to year.

Watch for ice-out of your local waters

  • Adopt a frozen body of water near you. You may choose a lake, pond, river, stream, bay, estuary--or even an ocean.
  • Watch for the exact date that ice-out occurs. We define "ice-out" as the time the body of water is 90% free of ice.

Add your ice-out sighting to the map

  • Report ice-out from your site. Select "sightings" to report!