(Arnolds Park)– 80 degree temperatures and a strong south wind over the weekend shoved what was left of the ice out of the Iowa Great Lakes.
Kirk Ewen of Arnolds Park keeps track of the freeze-thaw dates of the Iowa Great Lakes each year. He tells KUOO news the ice went out of East Lake Okoboji on Friday (March 16th) and West Lake Okoboji Sunday (March 18th). Those dates are much earlier than a year ago when the ice didn’t go out on East Lake until April 6th and West Lake April 8th.
While this year’s ice-out dates are considerably earlier than in recent years, Ewen says they do not set a record for being the earliest. He says in 2000 the ice went out on West Lake Okoboji on March 8th.
