Date: 03/27/2017

Number: 1

Ice-out declared on Lake Minnetonka

Freshwater Society and the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Water Patrol returned to shore late in the afternoon on March 27 and declared the lake to be ice free. This was 18 days earlier than the April 14 median date — when half the recorded ice-outs have occurred earlier and half later. In the last twenty years, 15 dates have been earlier than the median date and five have been on or later.

Ice-out records on Lake Minnetonka date back to 1855 and are a valuable if inexact method for revealing long-term trends. There is no one best way to determine ice-out on lakes; methods vary from lake to lake so consistency from year to year is what researchers and agencies such as the Department of Natural Resources prefer to see. Lake Minnetonka is declared ice-free when a boat can pass through channels and navigate all portions of the lake.

The ice-out call for 2017 was made after monitoring the ice from shore and communicating with nearby Society members and the Water Patrol. Once conditions allowed, the Water Patrol began boat trips accompanied by Freshwater Society board members to areas of the lake where significant ice remained.

Freshwater Society board chair Rick B and Hennepin County Water Patrol deputies were on the lake and noted there was some ice remaining but that all the lake’s bays and channels were fully navigable. Lake Minnetonka is the metro area’s largest lake, just over 14,500 acres in size with 37 bays.

Courtesy of Freshwater Society

Mound, MN

Latitude: 44.9 Longitude: -93.6

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