Near record-breaking ice-out on Lake Minnetonka

Ice-out was de­clared Thursday on Lake Minnetonka by the Hennepin County Sher­iff's Office and the Fresh­wa­ter Society, marking the se­cond-earli­est ice-out on re­cord for the big west metro lake. The earliest was March 11, 1878.

Last year, the lake was declared ice-free on April 5, which was earlier than the me­di­an date of April 14.

The Sher­iff's Office de­clares an ice-out when all of the lake's chan­nels and 37 bays can be traveled through with­out ob­struc­tion from ice. The declaration was made at 12:15 a.m. Thursday.

Warm weath­er, rain and wind all combined to create the early ice-out, the Sher­iff's Office said in a news release.

With the lake ready to host boats instead of snowmobiles, the Sheriff's Office reminded lake-goers that navigation buoys have not been installed for the season.

The office also cautioned anyone ex­pect­ing to be in or near the wa­ter to wear a life jack­et, to tell some­one where they are going and when they ex­pect to re­turn, and to make sure to super­vise chil­dren near wa­ter.

What ice remains scattered around Lake Minnetonka will con­tin­ue to melt as more rain and above-freez­ing tem­pera­tures make their way to the metro area, ac­cord­ing to the National Weath­er Service.

Me­te­or­ol­o­gist Paul Doug­las has pre­dicted breezy weath­er with scat­tered show­ers and flur­ries over the next few days, but the sky is ex­pect­ed to clear by Sun­day to allow for a few peeks of sun­light.

Ben Farniok is a University of Minnesota stu­dent reporter on as­sign­ment for the Star Tribune.