The Ice Is Out On The Largest Minneapolis Lake ... Finally

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- With the belated arrival of warm temperatures and sunny skies, lakes in the Twin Cities metro area have started to declare ice-outs.

On Tuesday afternoon, the largest lake in Minneapolis -- Bde Maka Ska -- reported ice-out conditions.

That's a good number of weeks after the median ice-out date of April 9. In fact, it represents the latest ice-out date on record.

As Heather Brown reported in Good Question Monday, the definition of ice-out can vary from lake to lake. For instance, on Lake Minnetonka it means the Hennepin County Water Patrol and Freshwater Society are able to travel to any bay on any shore to every channel uninterrupted, with possibly a floating ice chunk or two, but nothing that obstructs a boat from getting by. Other lakes it's reliant on citizen reporting.

In 2017, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources kept track of 614 Minnesota lakes. According to Assistant State Climatologist Pete Boulay, the information comes through Facebook, email, phone calls, letters, newspapers and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.