2018 Ice-Out Review

Posted by PLSLWD Staff - May 11, 2018 - News, Prior Lake, Spring Lake

While District lakes finally iced-out last week, it sure was an interesting ride getting there! This spring’s weather led to some unusual patterns across Minnesota. Winter clung on this year with more than one unexpected and significant snowstorm in April.

Normally, the lakes in southern Minnesota melt first, while the lakes up north are generally the last to ice out. Not so this year! Why? Thanks to April’s two feet of snow that pounded the Metro and southern Minnesota. This snowfall largely missed northern Minnesota, giving the ice on the northern lakes a head start. Thus, quite a few lakes in northern MN iced-out before those farther south!

The top map shows 2018 ice-out dates, while the colorful map on bottom shows the 2017 ice-out date. As you can see, last year ice out marched from south to north like usual. This year when ice-out did happen the whole state practically iced out at once with lakes from southern, center and northern Minnesota icing out the same week (April 29-May 5). Some lakes in very northern Minnesota are still waiting for ice-out. Last year, ice-out occurred very early. This year was the complete opposite. Instead of setting record early ice-out dates, lakes all over the state have been setting record late ice-out dates. Psst..you can find these interactive maps for both current and past years on the DNR’s website: www.dnr.state.mn.us/ice_out/index.html?year=2018.

2018 Ice-out dates

2017 ice-out dates

However, once the snow melted, the ice went fast! Many lakes went from 20 inches of ice to ice-out in just over a week! That’s crazy fast.

The 2018 ice-out dates (shown in table) for District lakes all set new records for latest ice-out dates based on our records. Most lakes bested the previous record by a couple of days. You can see the District’s full list of ice-out dates for District lakes on our Lake Monitoring page.

Lake	Ice Out Date
Pike	4/27
Haas	4/27
Cates	4/28
Buck	4/29
Upper Prior	4/30
Fish	4/30
Spring	5/1
Lower Prior	5/2

Want to help report ice-out on our lakes? Email jrockney@plslwd.org to be added to our volunteer ice observer email list.

View Full Article Lake, ice, ice-out

Volunteers Needed to Help Track Precipitation & Lake Ice-Out

Posted by PLSLWD Staff - March 29, 2018 - News

Mike Myser kayaking on Upper Prior Lake on March 14, 2016 – the day before official lake “Ice-Out.” Photo credit: Julie Myser

Like to keep an eye on the lakes or the weather? The Prior Lake-Spring Lake Watershed District is looking for residents to help report lake ice-out dates or record precipitation. It’s fun, easy and no experience is necessary!

Ice-out reporters are needed for all lakes, including Spring and Prior Lakes, as well as smaller District Lakes like Fish, Crystal, Buck Lakes, etc. Precipitation volunteers are needed in certain areas of the watershed, but not all.

Interested in volunteering? Email Jaime Rockney at jrockney@plslwd.org.

View Full Article ice-in, ice-out, lake ice, precip, volunteer

UPDATE: Where’d the Ice Go? Early 2017 lake ice-outs with a twist.

Posted by PLSLWD Staff - March 28, 2017 - News, Prior Lake

Originally published March 9th, 2017. Updated March 28th.

Wow, that sure went fast! Running 10.3 degrees warmer than average, February’s unusually warm weather* started melting the lake ice early this year. February was the 18th straight month that was warmer than average in the Twin Cities, which has never happened here in 143 years of record keeping (for more see Huttner’s article**).

Prior Lake ice-out. Photo credit: a resident on Paradise Bay.

The one-two punch of warm February weather, followed by a couple of crazy windy days chased the ice right out of town. This year, Haas, Spring, Pike and Fish were declared ice-out on March 7th. Lower and Upper Prior were close behind, reaching ice-out only a day later on March 8. As smaller lakes usually melt first it was especially strange that Buck Lake held out, not seeing ice-out until March 25^th. Lakes are considered “ice-out” when more than 90% of the lake is ice-free.

In a strange twist, cold weather returned and the ice was back on all of the lakes less than a week after the first ice-out. This unexpected development sent agencies across the state scrambling to determine which date should be considered the official ice-out date. Even long-tenured staff could not recall any other year in which the ice refroze after the initial ice-out. Upon consideration, DNR Climatology staff decided that the last ice-out date is considered the official ice-out date, but the first ice-out date should also be noted.

The lakes re-thawed last week, icing out for the second time this year. Lower Prior reached ice-out for the second time on March 20^th and Spring, Pike, Fish and Upper Prior all followed on March 21^st.

While the District does not have many years of lake ice-out dates for many of the District’s lakes, we do have 45 of the last 60 years of ice-out dates for Upper Prior Lake. This year’s first ice-out date on Prior Lake was 6 days earlier than the previous recorded record in 1987 and a week earlier than last year (the 2nd earliest ice-out on record). This year’s first ice-out marked the earliest recorded ice-out dates for all of the above lakes, with the exception of Buck Lake. The median ice-out date for Prior Lake is April 6^th. Historic lake ice dates can be always be found here and on our Lake Monitoring data page. For more lake information, visit the individual lake pages under the Waterbodies tab.

*More on February’s weather here: http://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/03/08/study-climate-change-goosed-odds-of-freakishly-hot-february

**Huttner, Paul. “Unprecedented Climate Event Unfolding.” http://blogs.mprnews.org/updraft/2017/03/warm-front-ahead-60s-again-by-sunday/

View Full Article Fish Lake, Haas Lake, Lower Prior, Pike Lake, Prior Lake, Spring Lake, Upper Prior, ice, ice-out