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Climate Cast ®
Paul Huttner and Matt Alvarez

Minnesota’s warming climate is making winter fun more dangerous

An aerial photo shows the ice houses
An aerial photo shows The Northwest Angle ice road at Lake of the Woods, between Warroad and Angle Inlet, Minnesota, on January 16, 2022. - The Northwest Angle Ice Road is a 37-mile ice road running across the Lake of the Woods, leading to the northernmost point of the contiguous United States. This is the second year the toll ice road has allowed people to bypass a trip to Canada, or a plane or snowmobile ride, to reach the Northwest Angle fishing community resort.
Kerem Yùcel | AFP via Getty Images

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Winter is the fastest-warming season in the Midwest — more than five degrees on average since 1970, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

All that warming is having an impact on ice formation.

“Climate change is injecting more energy into our weather systems, and that’s resulting in in just more extreme extremes,” journalist Kristoffer Tigue told MPR’s Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner. Tigue wrote about the shift in ice trends for Inside Climate News.

Warmer temperatures could result in a later start for ice formation and a shorter lifespan for lake ice. Add a rapid temperature swing in the middle of winter and the ice can become increasingly unstable.

“On some of the hotter winters, there’s spikes in these fatalities related to falling through the ice,” Tigue said.

To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.