Record latest ice-out now on many Minnesota lakes

(KMSP) - While we have finally turned the corner and headed into a more spring like pattern, our lakes are struggling to catch up.  

As of Saturday afternoon there are only five Minnesota lakes considered to be ice free out of more than 200 that are tracked and surveyed each year.  That puts much of the state a solid three to five weeks behind our normal ice out schedule.

For much of southern Minnesota and at least a few lakes in the metro, we have already broken the record for latest ice-out on record.  One of note is southwest of New Ulm, Lake Hanska is still not ice free, beating the old record set nearly 70 years ago in the early 1950s.  

For both Harriet and Bda Maka Ska, the latest ice out is today, Saturday April 28th.  Those records were set just 5 years ago in 2013, but folks have been keeping track of these two lakes since the 1940s.  Lake Minnetonka’s record is a week later, May 5th which could also get broken this year.