(Arnolds Park)– It’s official. The Iowa Great Lakes have finally frozen up completely. That word from Kirk Ewen of Arnolds Park…who keeps track of the freeze/thaw dates.
Ewen says East Lake Okoboji completely iced-over on Christmas Eve. West Lake Okoboji was completely covered by ice Sunday, December 30th.
While both of those dates are considerably later than in recent years, they didn’t set records. The latest West Lake Okoboji has frozen is January 3rd in 1932 and again in 1966. The latest East Lake Okoboji has frozen is January 2nd, in 1932. Records for the two lakes date back to 1916.
Big Spirit Lake froze December 26th. It’s the latest that lake has frozen since they started keeping records for it in 1955.
