Early Ice Out Date New Record

After searching high and low, the 2012 ice-out date of March 19 stands as the earliest on record. Our late friend, Willie Kungel kept records starting in 1980. He pasted the torch to Kurt Klausen, who kindly shared the data. Other March meltdown dates include the 24th (2000), 28th (1981) and 31st (1992). State climatologist Dennis Todey offered his thoughts. “There are several contributing factors to the warming this year (and consequently, early ice-out). Our winter was very warm overall. Despite some short cold stretches in early December and some later in the winter we had consistently above average winter temperatures. Thus, I doubt ice was ever too thick. I don’t think I would have felt comfortable being on any ice this year! Then, we had the early onset of spring with very warm temperatures overall. March 2012 was the warmest in SD history. Temperatures were consistently 15 F above average. That is not going to make ice last long. The other interesting aspect and consistent trend is warming lows. Our overnight lows are staying warmer in most seasons. Even if you have some warm days in the early spring you have some cold nights to help refreeze and maintain ice. We were setting all time record high mins in early March. Thus, the ice really had no chance. Why are we warming overall? One very warm march does not tell the story. But the overall warming trend is at least partly related to human activity. Can we blame it all? No. There is natural variation that is still occurring. But we are adding to the overall warming trend and some of the changes that are occurring. I wish we had overall longer term records on ice-in and out.” In closing, Dr. Todey stated “that would be a very cool data set to use for comparison”. Our neighbors to the East logged some interesting records for comparison. White Bear Lake had the earliest ice out since tracking started in 1936. Lake Minnetonka had only one earlier date on record, Mar 11, 1878. Green Lake broke their 115 year old record this year by matching our date, Mar 19. Minnesota climatologist Pete Boulay commented experiencing “earliest ice out since 1878 on most northern Minnesota lakes, for sure since 1910”. The actual ice out can be influenced by any combination of sun, wind and rain. Our climate itself can be affected by many factors including solar flares, earth’s rotation, volcanic eruptions and ocean currents, not to mention the contribution from 7 billion humans. For every generalization, there’s always a twist. For some reason, Rush Lake cleared after Pickerel this year, the reverse of past years.