Ice-out is earliest in history on lakes

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Shagawa Lake near Ely officially lost its ice Saturday, besting the previous record by 11 days and highlighting one of the earliest ice-out seasons in northern Minnesota recorded history.

Shagawa’s previous record ice out was April 14, set in 1998, and on average the lake doesn’t shed its last ice until April 27. Ice out has happened as late as May 16 on Shagawa.

While lake ice has been melting faster than usual across all of Minnesota, the northern half of the state is seeing especially early ice out, smashing old records thanks to record warmth in March that’s continued so far in April.

Some other closely watch-ed lakes – including Island near Duluth, Leech and Winnibigoshish – lost most of their ice this week and will tie or beat all-time record dates, the State Climatology Office reported.

“Vermilion is getting closer and might beat the record of April 10. Island Lake near Duluth is very close as well,” said Pete Boulay, assistant state climatologist. “Shagawa and Fall essentially went out on the same days as lakes in southern and western Minnesota, and that’s really unusual.”

Tags: two harbors, news, ice