Ice out on Lake L'Homme Dieu ties a record

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It was a race: Would the ice leave the lake before the deadline to enter the Echo Press Ice Out Contest ended?

As it turned out, the ice lingered long enough.

This year’s official ice out on Lake L’Homme Dieu was Sunday, March 25 – tying the earliest ice out date ever, which was set in 2000.

The ice out is about a month earlier than last year’s date of April 22.

In the 145 years the newspaper has been tracking it, the ice has left in March on just two other occasions – March 27, 1910 and March 25, 2000.

The latest the ice has stayed on the lake was in 1878 when it finally melted away on May 15.

A warm spell that began on March 13 took its toll on this year’s ice, especially during a four-day run on March 16-19 when the highs soared into the mid-70s. The temperature didn’t drop below freezing until this past Sunday when it briefly dipped to 29 degrees.

Residents were treated to more summer-like weather over this past weekend when temperatures hit 69 degrees on Friday and 71 degrees on Saturday.

While checking Lake L’Homme Dieu – the newspaper’s ice out lake – on Saturday evening, lake spotters still observed icy patches in at least four areas of the lake.

By Sunday, however, all the ice had vanished.

The deadline for entering the contest was Friday, March 23.

More than 140 people took a shot at the contest. Guesses ranged from as early as March 19 to as late as April 30.

Seventeen predicted the right date. A drawing was held to determine the winner – Graham Hegstad, who lives on Pospisil Drive near Lake Andrew in Alexandria. He’ll receive a $50 gift certificate from the contest’s co-sponsor, Pete’s County Market.

Tags: ice out, local news, news, updates, contest, lake