It’s official: the ice is out on both the Canadian and U.S. sides of Rainy Lake.
Mike Pawlikowski, the head pilot for Rusty Myers Flying Service here, declared the ice out Wednesday after a flight around 10 a.m.
On Tuesday, he had reported some slushy ice was still blocking the North Arm but it had disappeared by Wednesday morning.
“He thought, officially, [Wednesday] was ice-out. He was out yesterday and didn’t see anything,” Rusty Myers’ owner Angie Korzinski noted Thursday.
On the U.S. side, ice-out officially was declared Tuesday (May 1) at 3:30 p.m. when Voyageurs National Park pilot Tom Hablett noted the ice had cleared from Ranier to Kettle Falls.
“Our pilot was up on [Tuesday] morning and the ice hadn’t gone out and then in the afternoon, he called saying it was out at 3:30,” said VNP dispatcher Niki Scheldrup.
Ice-out is about a week-and-a-half later than last year when the South Arm was declared open April 22. In 1999, it also was declared open May 1 while in 1998 it was out by April 13.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
