When will Lake Mendota freeze this winter?
On Sunday, December 1st, Clean Lakes Alliance will kick off its 14th annual Mendota Freeze Contest. Calling on weather watchers and ice experts of all ages, the contest asks people to guess the official ice-on date for Lake Mendota. All entries to correctly guess the date will be entered to win a $1,000 gift card, courtesy of Lands’ End.
Freeze statistics for Lake Mendota
- For insight into the Wisconsin State Climatology Office, which declares the lakes frozen each year, read more about lake ice records from Wisconsin State Climatology Office
- The Wisconsin State Climatology Office makes the official determination as to whether the lake is frozen. The climatologists use the same guidelines they have used for decades. This allows for a continuity in data collection. Read more: Determining ice cover on Madison’s lakes.
- For statistics about determining the freeze date and the Madison ice record, see History of freezing and thawing of Lake Mendota and Madison lakes ice summary.
- To test your knowledge of our lakes in the winter, take the frozen lakes quiz.
A look back at the 2023-24 season
Temperatures below the freezing mark, combined with cold water and light winds, helped Lake Mendota officially freeze on January 15, 2024, as declared by the Wisconsin State Climatology Office. Lake Mendota, the largest lake in the Yahara Watershed, froze a full 26 days after December 20th, which is the median ice-on date for the largest lake in the Yahara River Watershed. The January 15th freeze is the 3rd latest freeze date since monitoring began over 170 years ago. The latest date ice-on has been declared is January 30th, and that took place in 1932.
The Wisconsin State Climatology Office requires ice to hold for a period of 24 hours before a lake can officially be declared frozen over. The January 15th freeze date is three weeks later than last year’s December 25th freeze date. For statistics about determining the freeze date and the Madison ice record, see History of freezing and thawing of Lake Mendota and Madison lakes ice summary.
2023-2024 season winner!
For the 13th year in a row, Clean Lakes Alliance held its annual Mendota Freeze Contest, asking people to make a guess as to when the lake would officially freeze. Of the 2,100 people to enter the contest, 88 people guessed Lake Mendota would freeze on January 15th. Kathleen Maier of Madison was the randomly selected winner. She said she picked the 15th because it is a family member’s birthday. Maier received $1,000 of gift cards courtesy of Lands’ End as the grand prize.
Contest Rules
Only one guess per individual. Multiple entries will be automatically disqualified. Official rules and regulations can be found here.
