When will the ice go out in Northwest Ontario?

The sun is making a dent in the ice at Pakwash lake Camp.

This Spring has not been kind to many of us this year. April in Northwestern Ontario has been one of the coldest on record. After having a winter where many communities have had above average snowfall, it would have been nice to have a warm Spring to kind of 'make up for the winter'. The snowmobilers, skiers and snowboarders sure liked the all the snow this past winter. At Mount Evergreen in Kenora, skiers took to the hills for the first time ever in May.  However, winter is gone and now we want some warm weather.

A common question around these parts in April and May is "When will the ice go out?". Many friendly bets are placed as to when the ice will go out on their lakes. With open water walleye opener happening in two weeks and with a lot of ice still on the lakes, locals and visitors are all asking "Will the ice be out for walleye opening on May Long weekend?

Here's a few photos from the beginning of May on lakes in Northwest Ontario.

Mylies Place on Lake of the Woods in the southern area of Sunset Country:

It'll be a while yet before you can use the boat launch at Mylies Place in Morson.

Barker Bay Resort on Lower Manitou Lake on May 2, 2013:

Most of the snow on the ground is gone at Barker Bay Resort

Bonny Bay Camp the morning of May 4, 2013:

Lots of snow and ice left at Bonny Bay Camp on Wabigoon Lake in Dryden.

Nestor Falls is a bit farther north up on Lake of the Woods. You can see from the photos by Nestor Falls Fly-in Outposts and Northwest Flying Inc. that while the ice is starting to open up, there's a lot more to melt.

The eagles, loons, pelicans and other birds are back. Thanks to Nestor Falls Fly-in Outposts for the photo.

Looking out on Kakbikitchiwan Lake from Northwest Flying in Nestor Falls.

Temple Bay Lodge on Eagle Lake near Vermilion Bay is starting to break up around the shore.

Starting to look up on Eagle Lake.

 Gustafson's Resort on Longbow Lake near Kenora posted this photo:

Longbow Lake

Wenasaga Lodge near Ear Falls:

Looking south from Slate cabin. The snow is now all gone on the ice and most of the shoreline.

Even though Fireside Lodge got a bit of snow last night, the lakes around Sioux Lookout are melting and are starting to break up around the shore.

Little Vermilion Bay is slowly starting to melt.

Ghost River Lodges has packed up their yearly rail car and headed out to their boat in camp. They obviously haven't boated in to open up camp this year.

Ghost River Lodge near Sioux Lookout hoping that sunset means sunshine tomorrow.

I see some open water at Agimac River Outfitters near Ignace:

Open water! A week or two of nice temps should really speed things up.

Just how much ice is on Red Lake? Watch Hugh Carlson from Viking Island & Outposts checking the depth of the ice on May 1st. There's at least 16" of solid ice.



For those in Thunder Bay, the weather has been the hardest. They have had many huge snowfalls, with a couple of those being very late in the season. Freezing rain covered the city on May 4th. The following video by Giant FM shows just how much ice they got.



So when will the ice go out of the lakes in Northwest Ontario? It's anybody's guess. All I know if that's it's going to be at least a month later than last year. How's ice the where you're at?