DETROIT LAKES — The ice snuck off Detroit Lake in the wee hours of Friday, May 5, about 15 days later than the average for the lake’s 131-year ice-out history, according to longtime lake observer Dick Hecock of Detroit Lakes.
This makes two shivery years in a row that the ice-out occurred in May: Last year the ice finally took the hint and left on May 6.
Even though the ice came off a day earlier than last year, it actually hung around a week longer – for 167 chilly days – because the lake froze over about a week earlier this winter season, on Nov. 19.
If that seems like a long stretch of winter ice, that’s because it kind of is: The average period of ice cover on Detroit Lake is 151 days, stretching back over the 113 years for which there are comparable records.
But Hecock said it is worth keeping in mind that the average is not very useful in describing the ice-out history of Detroit Lake.
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This year’s 167 days of frozen lake was a bit of an outlier, for example, because the average ice-cover period has actually decreased by about eight days, he said.
Nearly all that change can be chalked up to warmer nighttime air temperatures in the autumn, which cause the lake to freeze over later.
Ice-out times, on the other hand, respond mostly to unchanging sun angle and sun energy intensity, Hecock said.
So while ice-out dates may be all over the board from one year to the next, the average date has held steady, around April 20.
There has been a recent surge in May ice-outs – of the 18 May ice-outs in 131 years, four have come in the last 11 years – 2013, 2018, 2022, and 2023.
However, those later dates have been offset statistically by early-season ice outs in 2012, 2016, 2017, 2021, all in March or the first few days of April, Hecock said.
Thought the ice would never leave this year? It could have been worse: The latest ice-out was May 17 in 1950.
But it could definitely have been better: The earliest ice-out was on March 23 in 2012, not long after St. Patrick’s Day.
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