Ice Out

A few weeks back, when I took may dad down to Red Wing. even the local rivers (St. Croix) were frozen over. The only exception was the Mighty Muddy, aka the Mississippi. This week Sunday we went out for another drive, looking to see how this exceptionally warm spring was coming. The St. Croix was ice-free, including the ice-dams that had backed up causing flooding in a variety of locations. We did see the melting remains of one, however, pushed up on shore in a couple spots in the Lions Park just on the north side of St. Croix Falls.

Heading west along Hwy. 8 a bit, we drove up the length of North Center Lake accessible in Center City proper. While still covered with large sheets of black-colored ice, there were large gaps between sheets. Many spots had about 100 feet of open water out from the shore.

Monday on my way home from work, I noticed that the lakes visible in Forest Lake from the interstate had cleared all their ice cover. I decided to pay attention the rest of the way home to see where there was still ice. Comfort Lake was ice free, as was Green. Both North and South Lindstrom Lakes, however, had significant ice remaining, though the water patches were growing. South Center Lake had ice as well, but interestingly North Center Lake, the one we'd driven along on Sunday, had cleared.

Today on the way in to work, North Lindstrom had cleared, and tonight South Lindstrom as well. I had trouble telling with South Lindstrom this morning until I spied an eagle and a pair of crows standing out on a large patch of ice. Tonight South Center remains the only local lake with ice, and the winds today have pushed what little that remains into a single northern bay. I expect it will all be gone tomorrow.

The metro is south of us and usually warmer, so I was surprised to see the western suburbs sporting lakes with full coverings of ice. The only explanation I have is that they got significantly more snowfall than we did here, and it protected the ice much longer from starting to melt.

What does it all mean?

Fishing season is coming soon!