Publication Date March 30, 2016 | Detroit Lakes Online

Ice-off comes 3 weeks early to Detroit Lake

United States
As Minnesota warms there are fewer and fewer days of winter ice on Detroit Lake, as seen in the blue circle.
As Minnesota warms there are fewer and fewer days of winter ice on Detroit Lake, as seen in the blue circle.

In a fitting end to a mild winter, the ice left Detroit Lake about three weeks early.

It left on March 29, to be precise. That makes the 2016 Detroit ice-out the fourth earliest in the 133 years of record, according to Dick Hecock, a consultant with the Pelican River Watershed District.

Earlier ice-outs occurred in 1902, 1910 and 2012 (on March 23).

This year’s date is just about three weeks earlier than the long-time average, Hecock said