Lake Minnetonka Ice Out 2011 status: open
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| No ice remains between Wayzata and Excelsior. Click this photo for a larger image. Photo Dan Gustafson. |
The 2011 Lake Minnetonka Ice Out was declared at 5:14 am on April 14 by the Freshwater Society. The ice-out came 12 days later than last year, when the lake became ice-free on April 2.
Since 1968, the Freshwater Society has kept close records of the day the ice yields to warmer temperatures on Lake Minnetonka. Freshwater founder Dick Gray described the standard for determining ice-out in a 2003 column: The ice is considered to be “out” when it is possible to travel from any one shore to any other shore through any passage on the lake, he said.
In addition to declaring the ice-out every year since 1968, Gray has compiled a list of all recorded ice-out dates on Lake Minnetonka, dating back to 1855. The earliest recorded ice-out, measured by noted naturalist Dr. Thomas Roberts, was March 11, 1878, and the latest recorded date was May 8, 1856.
