The ice officially was “out” on Rainy Lake as of Friday afternoon (April 30) after head pilot Mike Pawlikowski saw that the North Arm was clear, Rusty Myers Flying Service here reported Monday morning.
That’s six days earlier than last year—when it was declared “out” on May 6. In 2002, the “ice-out” date was May 8.
It was May 3 in 2001 and April 22 in 2000.
A look at the past 13 years shows the date of “ice-out” has varied within a 35-day window of time.
The earliest was in 1998 (April 13) while the latest was in 1996 (May 18). Only six other times since 1990 was the ice out in April (1990, 1991, 1993, 1999, 2000, and now 2004).
The latest “ice-out” date over the past 70 years was May 22 in 1950.
Since 1930, the ice has been declared “out” of Rainy Lake in the month of May 57 times. The most common date for ice-out has been May 6 (nine times).
According to the recent weekly poll on the Times’ website, most of the voters guessed close to what the “ice-out” date ended up being.
Of the 142 responses, 13.4 percent voted it would occur “Before April 30” while 50.7 percent voted “Between May 1-7.”
The rest of the voters were a little off—with 28.2 percent voting “Between May 8-15” while 7.7 percent voted “After May 15.”
According to Einar Bros. Flying Service in International Falls, the U.S. side declared “ice-out” on Saturday—meaning it was possible to travel by boat from Island View to Kettle Falls unimpeded by ice.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
