April 15th is “Ice-Out”

Every year, a local business sponsors the “Ice-Out” contest at Moosehead Lake.  This year’s sponsor was Currier’s Flying Service. The official “ice-out” on Moosehead Lake is determined when the Katahdin steamship can safely travel from the East Cove to Northeast Carry. According to the Moosehead Lake Region Chamber of Commerce’s records, the earliest recorded ice-out date was April 14, 1945 and the latest was May 29, 1878. This year with the early warming trend, many locals were specualting that there would be a new record, but as of April 14th, even a tie was unlikely.  There were several nights that had been below freezing and ice was actually accumulating instead of melting! I took this photo on April 14th, and you can still see the ice spanning across the East Cove. But it is now official- “Ice-Out” is April 15th, 10:33 am! Ice on East Cove on April 14, 2010