Monday, April 30th’s morning thunderstorm took out what ice was left in the Iowa Great Lakes.

Kirk Ewen of Arnolds Park keeps track of the official freeze-thaw dates of the lakes. He told KUOO News the ice went out of East Lake Okoboji Sunday (April 29th) and this morning (Mon., April 30th) on West Lake Okoboji.

The dates are much later than last year. In 2017, the ice went out of East Lake Okoboji March 10th. The lake re-froze and went back out again on March 21st. The ice went out of West Lake Okoboji last year on March 20th.

This is the latest the ice has gone out on the Iowa Great Lakes since records have been kept. The previous record for West Lake Okoboji was April 28th in 1951 and 1983. The previous record for East Lake Okoboji was April 26th, 1951.

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