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Stubborn snow, ice persist on some Minnesota lakes

The Department of Natural Resources says there are factors working against timely ice out ahead of the May 13 fishing opener.

KABETOGAMA, Minn. — Minnesota's rollercoaster spring weather has finally gotten warm enough to unfreeze lakes across the metro as of last week.

Further north, however, there's still several feet of ice on some of the most popular fishing lakes.

Ed Sandberg owns Idlewild Resort on Lake Kabetogama, one of the state's largest lakes located entirely within Voyageurs National Park. 

"It’s iced over; there’s still about 2 feet of ice on there," said Sandberg. "But we do have some rain coming that should take care of that pretty quickly."

Sandberg is trying to prepare his property ahead of the fishing opener on May 13. Other longtime resort owners say the ice wasn't out until the day before last year's opener.

According to the DNR, the latest it has ever gone out on Lake Kabetogama was May 18, 1996. The agency has created a map that depicts lake ice-out dates found in data archived by the DNR and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

"Most of the lakes, so far, are on time or maybe a few days behind," said Minnesota Senior Climatologist Kenneth Blumenfeld. "Every year, it's like a game we play."

Still, Blumenfeld says don't change your plans just yet. Last week's warm spell combined with this season's overall lower ice quality means your fishing excursion may not be in jeopardy, despite the record-setting winter season.

"It was actually pretty mild," said Blumenfeld. "The coldest day of the year, even in northern Minnesota, really wasn't that cold and we didn't have that many of them. It wouldn't be that surprising if we proceeded at a near-normal pace."

As for Sandberg, he's hopeful for warmer days ahead and making even more memories.

"This is my home and it's going to continue to be my home and I'm just happy we can hopefully be a part of people's traditions and foster that," said Sandberg. 

Some resort owners are also busy repairing docks after damaging flooding last year. Some docks were underwater until July, but that isn't a concern this year. 

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