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Our mild March appears to have taken the ice out on some lakes in southern Minnesota. I say appears because as of yet I don’t have any local ground confirmation or reporting on the 

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ ice-out web page.

But high-resolution satellite images appear to show open water on a few southern Minnesota lakes as of Friday. Check out NASA’s MODIS Terra 250-meter resolution visible image from Friday. You can clearly see open lakes in northern Iowa, and what appear to be a few open lakes north of the state line in southern Minnesota. 

From the satellite view, the open water lakes appear to be Heron Lake between Worthington and Windom, and a cluster of lakes south of Fairmont near the Iowa border. (Larger image above)

2021 ice-out trends appear to be running 

 across southern Minnesota. The median ice-out date for Iowa Lake on the border south of Fairmont is March 26. 

Expect more lakes in southern Minnesota to lose ice-cover this weekend. The combination of mild temperatures near 60 degrees and high winds Saturday will work on removing ice on some lakes. Wind gusts will exceed 30 mph in some locations Saturday. 

With more rain and wind on the way next Tuesday, expect more southern Minnesota lakes to go ice-free next week. 

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Paul Huttner

Author

Satellite images appear to show the first ice-free lakes in southern Minnesota Friday. 

NASA MODIS 250-meter visible satellite image Friday

Ice out ahead: First lakes now ice-free in southern Minnesota?

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