When Does Cottonwood Lake Freeze? Typical Ice-In Nov 29, Ice-Out Mar 21
Cottonwood Lake in Lyon County, Minnesota usually freezes over around Nov 29, and usually has ice-out around Mar 21, based on Minnesota DNR ice observations recorded between 2020-2025. That works out to roughly 253 days of open water a year. These are typical dates across many winters, not a forecast — individual years swing by weeks in either direction.
Ice record for Cottonwood Lake
| Typical freeze-up (ice-in) | Nov 29 |
| Typical ice-out | Mar 21 |
| Earliest freeze-up on record | Nov 28, 2024 |
| Latest freeze-up on record | Dec 1, 2025 |
| Earliest ice-out on record | Mar 1, 2024 |
| Latest ice-out on record | Apr 1, 2020 |
| Open-water season | ~253 days |
| Winters observed | 9 |
| Location | Lyon County, Minnesota |
These are dates, not an ice-safety reading
A typical freeze-up date tells you when Cottonwood Lake has usually iced over — it does not tell you the ice is safe, and we hold no thickness measurement for this or any lake. The Minnesota DNR is explicit that no ice is ever completely safe: thickness varies across a single lake, and current, springs, aerators, and insulating snow all weaken it. Ice that held a truck last week may not hold a person today.
Read the ice-thickness guidelines before going out, and check current conditions with the Minnesota DNR ice-safety page and local bait shops, which track conditions lake by lake.
How much the timing varies
Ice-out on Cottonwood Lake has landed as early as Mar 1, 2024 and as late as Apr 1, 2020 — a spread of weeks around the Mar 21 median. Freeze-up has ranged from Nov 28, 2024 to Dec 1, 2025. That year-to-year swing is why a median date is a planning tool, not a schedule. Freeze-up is driven by accumulated cold after the lake turns over in fall; ice-out by late-winter air temperature, sun angle, and how much snow sits on top of the ice reflecting it. The full nutrient and algae breakdown for Cottonwood Lake is on the lake report.
Source: Minnesota DNR Climate Office ice-in / ice-out records, observations from 2020-2025.
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