Record ice out frozen at International Falls

Cold nights have stalled the ice melt on Rainy Lake, the dividing body separating Canada and the U.S. Until now, it appeared all records would be shattered with a March ice out on the massive lake that feeds the legendary International Falls falls. Our reporter, Wayne Kasich, still believes we'll reach an all-time record. Present record is April 10. We don't know what year that was, because Wayne did not include that detail in his report.

Wayne

Wayne continues:

"We are off to the shack until Monday sometime. We don't get very good cellphone reception unless we go around back and up on the ridge. We went down Tuesday and cleaned and I took inventory of materials to begin the process of transforming the 8X8 shed into a sauna.

"Good working weather."

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Godspeed as you venture into the wilderness, dear elder. Be careful out there. Keep your wits about you and your cellphone in your vest pocket.

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But wait, there's more!

Dear Readers, we have an additional report from another monitor of a Great Body of Water in Minnesota. Our faithful reporter there is Matt McMillan, partner in MessAge Media Co., based in Aitkin. He holds an actual job.

Matt writes:

Matt

"The ice officially went out March 26 on Mille Lacs. The former record, April 2, was smashed. Columnists in papers in this part of the state are trying to decide whether the record means anything tied to a changing climate or global warming. State climatologist Mark Seely, who stays out of the political debate, was in Grand Rapids recently. He said the temperature in Minnesota has risen during the recorded history from the late 1800s to now. That could be too small a length of time to determine anything. But, writers at papers here are offering their opinions. Most seem to believe in the global warming.
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"I am in the Isle office each Thursday. So this e-mail comes to you from the southeast side of the lake. No ice in sight.
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"Just sent the first real estate guide of the year to press yesterday. The guide takes a break during the winter. Realtors here say sales, listings and activity are busier now than in the past couple of years. Signs of a perking economy? I hope so."

Five years ago, our lake reporters, Wayne and Matt, enjoyed a free
breakfast as part of an overnight poker package hosted by St. Paul Katie.