It looks more like Kansas in late January than Minnesota out there. Unless you venture up to the North Shore or Arrowhead, snow cover is sparse. But the ice fishing is good! Last week’s mini-polar vortex outbreak helped to insure thick ice statewide.
Douglas: Welcome thaw for Minnesota this week
The Minnesota Star Tribune
January 27, 2025 at 1:54AM
We were at a wedding in Crosslake on Saturday and an angler came up and excitedly reported a 22-inch ice thickness on Kimball Lake in Crow Wing County. Of course, ice thickness can vary wildly across the same lake, but most locals know when it’s safe.
Temperatures thaw above 32 degrees Monday for the first time since Jan. 17, and we may hit 40 on Tuesday and again on Friday. Snow chances have evaporated for the upcoming weekend with moisture staying south (again), but long-range models are getting my hopes up for the end of next week, as the storm track edges northward. That’s still way out there and confidence levels are very low, but at some point it will snow again. Probably on Mother’s Day weekend. “Paul, you shouldn’t joke about that.” I know.
