Ice-Out / Ice-In - Help us fill in the missing dates!
Gunborg (Gunny) Lovgren and her husband, Carl, retired and moved to Grindstone Lake in 1969. One morning as they listened to WCCO radio, they heard a request for persons to call in when the ice on Minnesota lakes went out. Their home, located on a point near the middle of the west side of the lake, gave the Lovgrens a great view of most of the lake, a perfect view of the ice-out and freeze-up. Gunny called WCCO to report the ice went out on Grindstone Lake on April 26, 1970. Since then she has sent a postcard to WCCO twice a year with the ice-out and freeze-up dates. For many years Jim Gilbert reported Gunny’s dates on his WCCO morning radio show.
One day in 1989 while Gunny was at the post office in Sandstone, a postal clerk told her Dr. Kenton Stewart, a professor at the State University of New York-Buffalo, had contacted the post office asking for the name of someone to report on the thawing and freezing of Grindstone Lake. Doctor Stewart contacted Gunny to ask her if she was willing to report the ice-out and freeze-up dates to him as part of the research he was conducting on Global warming and climate change. She agreed and has sent Dr. Stewart the lake information for 19 years.
On April 25, 2008, Gunny mailed her last reports to WCCO and Dr. Stweart. She decided after 38 years, it was time to pass her lakewatch job on to someone else. Writing Credit: Muriel Langseth
Gunny’s Dates:
YEAR / ICE-OUT / ICE-IN (FREEZE-UP)
1970 / April 26 / Dec 14
1971 / April 20 / Dec 12
1972 / April 27 / Dec 3
1973 / April 9 / Dec 16
1974 / April 21 / Dec 19
1975 / April 29 / Dec 2
1976 / April 9 / Nov 28
1977 / April 12 / Dec 7
1978 / April 24 / Dec 6
1979 / April 13 / Dec 12
1980 / April 19 / Dec 19
1981 / April 10 / Dec 19
1982 / April 23 / Dec 12
1983 / April 25 / Dec 6
1984 / April 15 / Dec 17
1985 / April 19 / Dec 2
1986 / April 13 / Dec 12
1987 / April 5 / Dec 20
1988 / April 13 / Dec 9
1989 / April 22 / Dec 12
1990 / April 21 / Dec 22
1991 / April 19 / Nov 19
1992 / April 15 / Dec 18
1993 / April 19 / Dec 21
1994 / April 16 / Dec 14
1995 / April 21 / Nov 29
1996 / April 20 / Nov 28
1997 / April 22 / Dec 29
1998 / April 5 / Dec 28
1999 / April 10 / Dec 21
2000 / March 31 / Dec 12
2001 / April 24 / Jan 2
2002 / April 17 / Jan 12
2003 / April 15 / Dec 14
2004 / April 15 / Dec 23
2005 / April 9 / Dec 17
2006 / April 9 / Dec 22
2007 / April 20 / Dec 8
2008 / April 24 / Dec 7
Dates: Bea Daggett & Brenda Perrault
2009 / April 14 / Dec 14
2010 / April 1 / Dec 13
2011 / April 16 /
2012 / /
2013 / May 8 / Dec 5
2014 / May 5 / Dec 2
2015 / April 12 / Jan 4
2016 / March 31 / Dec 18
2017 / May 2 / Dec 23
2018 / May 5 / Dec 7
2019 / April 23 / Dec 4
2020 / April 8 / Dec 25
2021 / April 4 / Dec 21
2022 / April 30 / Dec 9
2023 / April 27 / Jan 10
2024 / April 3 / ????