Ice-out declared on Lake Minnetonka, slightly later than last year

Officials have declared ice-out on Lake Minnetonka, about 10 days earlier than the median date for the Twin Cities' largest lake.

The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office Water Patrol and Freshwater Society declared open water on the lake at 5:38 p.m. on Friday. The median ice-out date for Lake Minnetonka is April 13, and last year, it came on March 29.

While ice-out method varies by lake, on Lake Minnetonka, it means a boat "is able to safely navigate from any shore to any other shore, through any channel, and around any island without being stopped by hard ice," Freshwater said.

Lake Minnetonka's earliest recorded ice-out was March 11, 1878, though it only missed that mark by two days in 2024. The latest known ice-out is May 5, which happened in 1857 and again in 2018.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources reports ice-out dates for lakes around the state on its website.