In January 2024, the last open water on White Bear Lake sat east of the Dellwood peninsula. Two days before it froze, Mike Parenteau told the White Bear Lake Conservation District board that the lake "isn't frozen yet." Then a cold stretch in the middle of the week closed the gap. As Press Publications reported, Parenteau called the lake officially frozen on January 18.
That date also stands as the latest freeze-up in the Minnesota DNR's record for the lake. That record holds only a dozen freeze-ups. White Bear Lake has logged the spring thaw for nearly a hundred years. It has paid much less attention to the freeze it is about to go through again.
Ninety-Nine Springs, Called by Hand
The Conservation District publishes an ice-out table with a date for every spring from 1928 through 2026. It starts with April 2, 1928, and the most recent entry is March 31, 2026.
People make these calls, not instruments. On White Bear Lake, ice is declared out when a boat can travel from shore to shore in any direction. Jan Holtz Kraemer made the call for 28 years. In 2022, Press Publications reported that she was handing the job to Mike Parenteau, whom the paper described as a longtime friend and fellow lake lover. That spring the two of them led the team that declared ice-out on April 20, 2022.
The call now matters to people beyond the board. Alan Haskins, owner of the White Bear Lake marketing agency Nimble Impressions, started the free White Bear Lake Ice-Out Contest in 2020. According to the Pioneer Press, the contest also covers Bald Eagle Lake, and its 2025 prize pool topped $3,500. Winners are named only after the Conservation District makes White Bear Lake's ice-out official. Haskins makes the call for Bald Eagle himself.
Twelve Freeze-Ups on the Record
The other end of winter has much less data behind it. The DNR's LakeFinder ice report for White Bear Lake shows 172 ice-out observations from 1928 to 2026. For ice-in it shows 12 observations, from 2012 to 2024. The Conservation District's own page labels its ice-in history "limited data available."
From those twelve winters, the DNR gives these figures:
- Median ice-in: December 7
- Earliest: November 24, 2013
- Latest: January 18, 2024
For the coming winter, both the median date and the earliest date are still weeks away. Twelve winters is a short history for a median, and one late year can move it.
The DNR's definition also asks a lot of the lake. Ice-in "occurs when the entire lake is frozen over for the first time and the ice cover remains through winter." Skim ice that breaks up again, or a frozen stretch along the shore, doesn't qualify. The whole lake has to freeze and stay frozen, so a date can only be confirmed once the lake has held. The DNR also points out that these observers don't measure ice thickness.
The Year With No Ice-In
The winter of 2023–24 shows how much that definition matters. In December 2023, Parenteau had his ice boat out, but by his account the lake never really froze over. The ice didn't hold. When Press Publications ran a chart of freeze dates, calendar year 2023 had no ice-in at all.
The January 18 freeze ended that, at least on paper. Parenteau added a caveat in the same Press Publications article:
"The final piece froze east of the (Dellwood) peninsula last Thursday... that doesn't mean the ice is safe."
The ice didn't last. The lake went out March 8, 2024, which is the earliest ice-out on the century-long record. It was called seven weeks after the official freeze.
Here are the last five winters side by side, from the DNR's LakeFinder tables:
| Winter | Ice-in | Ice-out |
|---|---|---|
| 2021–22 | December 7, 2021 | April 20, 2022 |
| 2022–23 | December 6, 2022 | April 18, 2023 |
| 2023–24 | January 18, 2024 | March 8, 2024 |
| 2024–25 | December 12, 2024 | March 28, 2025 |
| 2025–26 | Not yet posted | March 31, 2026 |
The table shows the imbalance again. Every ice-out date in it, including spring 2026, has been posted. The freeze from last winter has not. The DNR doesn't post current-year ice-in dates in real time and updates its map when reports come in. The December 12, 2024 freeze date is credited to the MPCA, while every other date in the table comes from the DNR's State Climatology Office. Even the freeze-ups that are on file don't all come from the same observer.
Three Figures for One Thaw
Even the long spring record gives slightly different answers depending on which version you read. LakeFinder puts the median ice-out at April 12. When the DNR declared ice-out on March 28, 2025, FOX 9 quoted the median as April 13. The local recordkeepers have used an average of April 14. A median and an average are different measures. The DNR also notes that ice-out criteria vary from lake to lake, so observers keep their own standard consistent from year to year.
The records themselves change too. In 2022, the earliest ice-out on file was March 16, 2016. Two years later, March 8, 2024 broke it. The last three springs, March 8, March 28 and March 31, all came well ahead of the April 14 average. The chart Press Publications ran in 2022 already pointed to a possible trend toward earlier ice-out. For the freeze, twelve winters isn't enough history to say whether it is moving in either direction.
What Waits on the Ice
The freeze date matters most to the events held on the lake itself. Their 2027 schedule is only partly set. The Conservation District's calendar of events and the organizers' own pages list these:
- White Bear Lake Polar Plunge, a fundraiser for Special Olympics Minnesota. The last one was Saturday, January 31, 2026, according to Special Olympics Minnesota. No 2027 date has been posted yet.
- BEAR'ly Open Golf on Ice, which benefits the White Bear Area Food Shelf. Bearlyopen.org lists February 6, 2027, with two custom 9-hole courses, a shotgun start at 11:15 a.m. and tee times at 11:30 a.m. or 1:00 p.m. Players bring their own "club," whether a hockey stick, a broom or a tennis racket. The pre-party is Friday, February 5, 2027, at the White Bear Country Inn, with live music from Wildcat Combo. Explore White Bear places the event at Ramsey County Beach.
- Horseshoes on Ice, hosted by VFW Post 1782 at 4496 Lake Ave. S. The last one was Saturday, February 7, 2026.
- Late Winter Ice Cleanup, run by the Conservation District. The 23rd annual cleanup was Saturday, March 7, 2026. In 2025, heavy snow and uncertain ice conditions moved the assigned groups to an on-shore cleanup.
- White Bear Lake Ice-Out Contest, free to enter through Rally WBA. It closes the season, because winners are named only after the Conservation District's official ice-out call.
The 2025 cleanup shows that ice conditions can change the plan for an event that already has a date.
Maisa Olson keeps long records too, on sales around the lake, the kind of comparable-sale history an appraiser builds year after year. If you'd like to know how your home on or near White Bear Lake compares with recent sales before the ice goes out this spring, book a free valuation consultation.
