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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Early ice-out across the area

Vermilion, Shagawa clear April 18

Marshall Helmberger
Posted 4/22/15

REGIONAL—The open water season arrived early this year in northern St. Louis County, as warm air, sunshine and days of strong wind swept remaining ice off most area lakes by the end of last week. …

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Early ice-out across the area

Vermilion, Shagawa clear April 18

Posted

REGIONAL—The open water season arrived early this year in northern St. Louis County, as warm air, sunshine and days of strong wind swept remaining ice off most area lakes by the end of last week.

Lake Vermilion cleared of ice on Saturday, April 18, twelve days ahead of its long-term average of April 30. And this year’s ice-out comes almost a month earlier than last year’s ice-free date of May 13.

Ely’s Shagawa Lake was also ice-free as of April 18, according to Pat Loe, a Forest Service pilot based in Ely. Most smaller lakes in the region had opened days earlier. Bear Head Lake was reported ice-free on Tuesday, April 14, while Farm and White Iron lakes both cleared of ice on Friday, April 17. Crane Lake was reported open as of April 18, while Elephant Lake was ice-free as of April 15, according to the staff at Melgeorge’s Resort.

Only a handful of lakes in northern St. Louis and Lake counties still held ice as of Saturday, April 18, including Trout Lake, north of Vermilion, Snowbank Lake, and Namakan and Rainy lakes in Voyaguers National Park. A few other border lakes, including Lac La Croix and portions of Basswood Lake still held some ice as of Saturday, according to satellite imagery.

Persistent cloud cover has prevented satellites from capturing any further ice melting progress since Saturday, but cold temperatures and the lack of sunshine likely impeded much additional melting.