You Make the Call: When Will the Ice Be Officially Declared 'Out' on Lake Minnetonka?

Ice out on Lake Minnetonka will come a full six weeks later than last year and could be one of the latest dates in history.

Click here to see a historical table of official ice out dates, as provided by the Freshwater Society.

The Freshwater Society has been the official caller of Lake Minnetonka ice out for more than 50 years. Ice out on Lake Minnetonka is a sign of spring that scientists and lakeshore residents have been tracking and recording since at least 1855. Freshwater Society founder Dick Gray, who catalogued the early records and has made his own records since 1968, described the standard for determining ice-out in a 2003 column: “when it is possible to travel by small boat from any one shore to any other shore through any passage on the lake.”

Prior to that, Gray wrote, ice-out sometimes was determined by when a car placed on the ice fell through or when a boat could travel from Excelsior to Wayzata.

Related posts:

• 'Ice Breakers' Hasten Winter's Retreat on Lake Minnetonka
• Re-Writing History? Climatologists Question Lake Minnetonka's 1856 Ice Out Accuracy

So when do you think the ice will be declared out on Lake Minnetonka this year? Patch posed the question on our Facebook page earlier this month, and what follows are some of the responses (local editor Jay Corn picked April 16):

• Cindy Larson May 8th......My bday!!!!
• Jackie Huber Klecker April 30th
• Chase Korth: April 15th.
• Lord Fletcher's Old Lake Lodge: We say April 18th!
• Julie Black: Feels like it could be the end of June, but I'll go with April 12th.

Ice-out dates for 22 of the years since 1855 are unknown. Several years ago, Pete Boulay of the Minnesota State Climatology Office found old Smithsonian Weather Observer records that contained ice-out information for two years—1863 and 1873—had had long been missing from the official log.

Last year's call came at 9:12 a.m. on Wednesday, March 21.

Give us your prediction by leaving a response in the comments box! The closest correct prediction will receive a shoutout on Patch's Facebook and Twitter accounts, as well as be included in a future post about the 2013 ice out date.