When Does the Ice Go Out on Great Northern Lake? Typical Ice-Out Mar 29
Great Northern Lake in Stearns County, Minnesota usually has ice-out around Mar 29, based on Minnesota DNR ice observations recorded between 2023-2025. These are typical dates across many winters, not a forecast — individual years swing by weeks in either direction.
Ice record for Great Northern Lake
| Typical ice-out | Mar 29 |
| Earliest ice-out on record | Mar 29, 2025 |
| Latest ice-out on record | Apr 16, 2023 |
| Winters observed | 3 |
| Location | Stearns County, Minnesota |
These are dates, not an ice-safety reading
A typical freeze-up date tells you when Great Northern 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 Great Northern Lake has landed as early as Mar 29, 2025 and as late as Apr 16, 2023 — a spread of weeks around the Mar 29 median. 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 Great Northern Lake is on the lake report.
Source: Minnesota DNR Climate Office ice-in / ice-out records, observations from 2023-2025.
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