Minnesota Lake Ice-Out Dates: When Lakes Thaw, South to North

Minnesota lakes thaw from south to north over about five weeks. In a typical year the ice leaves Lake Pepin at the end of March, Twin Cities lakes in the first half of April, the Brainerd Lakes around April 20, and the big border waters in the first days of May. The spread from year to year is wide: the same lake can open in mid March one year and mid May another.

Median ice-out dates, south to north

These figures come from the Minnesota DNR State Climatology Office's ice-out records for selected lakes. The median is the middle date of the historical record: half of all years were earlier, half later.

Lake	County	Median ice-out
Pepin	Goodhue	March 31
Clear	Waseca	April 3
Nokomis	Hennepin	April 4
Bde Maka Ska	Hennepin	April 9
Minnetonka	Hennepin	April 13
White Bear	Ramsey and Washington	April 13
Otter Tail	Otter Tail	April 15
Minnewaska	Pope	April 15
Osakis	Todd	April 19
Gull	Cass	April 20
Itasca	Clearwater	April 22
Whitefish	Crow Wing	April 23
Mille Lacs	Mille Lacs	April 25
Pokegama	Itasca	April 25
Winnibigoshish	Cass	April 26
Bemidji	Beltrami	April 26
Leech	Cass	April 28
Vermilion	St. Louis	April 30
Lake of the Woods	Lake of the Woods	May 3
Rainy	Koochiching	May 4

A few patterns stand out:

• Latitude is the main driver, but not the only one. Lake Bronson, in Kittson County in the far northwest corner, has a median of April 13, the same as Minnetonka. It is small and shallow and sits in open prairie country where snow melts off early.
• Size and depth slow things down. Large, deep lakes hold more ice and need more wind to break it up. Small lakes near a big one usually open several days sooner.
• The Arrowhead is last. High-country lakes along the Gunflint Trail and in the Boundary Waters are usually among the final ones in the state to open. In 2013 the last ice-out the DNR recorded was on a Cook County lake, on May 20.

For the lake you care about, the DNR ice-out map shows this year's reported dates along with median, earliest and latest dates for lakes with long records. Our own ice-out tracker and ice-out tool follow the season as it moves north.

Record early and late years

The early years: 2012 and 2024

March 2012 was so warm that most large northern lakes set early records that still stand: Mille Lacs on March 26, Gull on March 26, Vermilion on March 28, Winnibigoshish on March 30, Leech on April 2 and Lake of the Woods on April 8.

The winter of 2023-24, which the State Climatology Office dubbed the lost winter, rewrote records farther south. The DNR reported the first ice-out of that season on February 22, on Okamanpeedan Lake on the Iowa border in Martin County, and noted that ice-out in March ran about a month ahead of long-term averages. Among the records:

• Clear Lake in Waseca County: March 1, 2024. The old record was March 6, on a lake with records back to the 1870s.
• Lake Osakis: March 8, 2024, breaking a mark of March 13 that had stood since 1878.
• White Bear Lake: March 8, 2024.
• Lake Minnetonka: March 13, 2024, two days short of its 1878 record of March 11.

The late years: 1950, 2013 and 2018

For much of northern Minnesota, 1950 remains the benchmark. Leech and Vermilion did not open until May 23 that year, Bemidji and Rainy until May 22, and Gull and Itasca until May 18.

Two recent springs came close:

• 2013. The DNR's recap put ice-out about ten days behind the median in southern Minnesota and three weeks behind in central Minnesota. Mille Lacs went out on May 16, Winnibigoshish and Pokegama on May 17, and Otter Tail on May 13, all records. The last reported ice-out in the state was May 20 in Cook County.
• 2018. A snowy, cold April held ice about three weeks late in the south and ten days late in the north. Minnetonka tied its all-time latest date of May 5, White Bear Lake set a record at May 4, and many big central and northern lakes did not open until the first or second week of May.

Lake of the Woods has its own record late date, May 21, set in 2014.

How ice-out is tracked

The DNR does not send crews out to measure this. Ice-out dates are volunteered by lake residents, resort owners, lake associations and other observers, some of whom have kept the record for their lake for decades. The State Climatology Office archives the reports together with records from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and it maps median dates for lakes with at least 20 years of data since 1950.

There is no single definition. The DNR lists three in common use:

• The lake is completely free of ice.
• The lake is about 90 percent free of ice.
• A boat can travel between two specified points.

Lake Minnetonka is the best-known example of the navigation standard: its ice-out is declared once a boat can travel through the lake's bays and channels. What matters is that each lake's observers stay consistent over time. Comparing one lake's date with its own history is sound. Comparing two lakes down to the day is less so.

If you watch a lake that lacks an observer, the State Climatology Office accepts reports. It asks for the date, lake name and county.

Why the date matters

The fishing opener

Minnesota's walleye and northern pike season opens on a date set by statute: the Saturday two weeks before the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. That was May 9 in 2026 and will be May 15 in 2027. See our fishing opener guide and confirm dates in the current DNR regulations.

In a normal year, even Rainy Lake has been open for a week or more by then. In a late year it is a real planning problem. In 2013 and 2018, anglers heading for Mille Lacs, Leech, Winnie and the border lakes found ice still on parts of them, or accesses choked with wind-driven floes. If the spring is running late, have a southern or smaller backup lake.

Ice-out timing also shapes the fishing itself. Walleyes spawn soon after the ice leaves, so after an early ice-out the fish are well past the spawn and scattered by the opener, while after a late one they may still be concentrated in shallow spawning areas and near river mouths.

The end of ice fishing

Shelters have to come off the ice well before ice-out, by DNR deadlines in March that differ for the southern and northern parts of the state. Late-season ice is unpredictable: it weakens from the shoreline in, and thickness says little about strength once it has started to honeycomb. See ice thickness safety.

Cold water

For weeks after ice-out the water is in the 30s and 40s. This is when a routine slip off a dock or a capsized canoe becomes fatal. Wear the life jacket. Details are in how cold are Minnesota lakes.

Docks, lifts and loons

Wind-driven ice sheets can shove ashore with enough force to wreck docks and move boulders, so wait until the lake is fully clear before putting equipment in. Loons arrive almost as soon as there is open water, often the same day.

The long-term trend

Ice seasons are getting shorter. The DNR reports that Minnesota lakes have been losing days of ice cover over recent decades, through both later freeze-up and earlier ice-out. That does not make any single year predictable. 2018 and 2024 were only six years apart and sat at opposite extremes.

Bottom line

• Mid April for the Twin Cities, around April 20 to 25 for the Brainerd and Mille Lacs area, and the turn of May for the border lakes is the normal schedule.
• Any single year can miss the median by three weeks either way, so check the DNR map, not the calendar.
• Just-thawed water is the coldest and least forgiving of the year. Treat the first trips of spring accordingly.