Prior Lake Spring Lake Watershed District
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Posts tagged "Pike Lake"

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 25th. 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 20th and Spring, Pike, Fish and Upper Prior all followed on March 21st.

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 6th. 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

The Ice is IN!

Posted by PLSLWD Staff - December 12, 2016 - News, Prior Lake

Last week most of the District’s lakes officially iced over. With the help of citizen volunteers reporting, lake ice-in dates were noted once the lakes were 90% covered in ice. This year’s ice over dates were much closer to average, unlike last year when lakes did not freeze over until the last few days of December.

This year, Haas Lake and Buck Lake were the first lakes which reported ice-on conditions on December 7th, 2016. Pike Lake was next on December 8th and Fish Lake, Spring Lake and Upper Prior Lake followed on December 9th. Lower Prior Lake was the last reporting lake which iced over on December 10th.

You can also view historical ice-on and ice-on off dates on our monitoring page.

Please remember that ice should be at least 4″ thick before you should walk out on the ice. New clear ice is stronger than white ice (or “snow ice”). Ice often freezes unevenly and can be influenced by many different factors. To learn more about ice thickness guidelines and ice safety, visit the Minnesota DNR’s website.

View Full Article Fish Lake, Ice-On, Ice-Over, Lower Prior, Pike Lake, Prior Lake, Spring Lake, Upper Prior, ice, lake ice

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Prior Lake – Spring Lake Watershed District

The District covers about 42 square miles in Scott County, MN. Water in the PLSLWD flows mainly from the southwest to the northeast through Spring, Upper Prior and Lower Prior Lakes, and then north through the Prior Lake Outlet Channel to the Minnesota River near Valley Fair amusement park.
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Prior Lake - Spring Lake Watershed District
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Prior Lake, MN 55372

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