The Clean Lakes Alliance kicked off its 14th annual Mendota Freeze Contest Sunday, prompting Wisconsinites to submit guesses on when they believe the lake will fully freeze.
Clean Lakes Alliance Marketing & Development Manager Sarah Skwirut spoke about the history and purpose of the Mendota Freeze Contest, highlighting how Lake Mendota is the most studied lake in the world.
Due to the lake being located by the University of Wisconsin, researchers and people in general have always paid a lot of attention to Lake Mendota compared to other lakes, Skwirut said.
“One of the pieces of data that’s been collected every year is how long [the lakes] frozen, and that’s really important especially for climatology to look at trends over time,” Skwirut said. “The number of days that lakes are frozen is a really good indicator of temperature changes.”
The way researchers determine if the lake is fully frozen is by driving from point to point around the lake, Skwirut said. Though there are more modern methods that could be used, such as drones, researchers are committed to keeping their methods, and therefore their data set consistent.
If a part of the lake is over 50% frozen, it is considered fully frozen. Lake Mendota being declared completely frozen doesn’t necessarily equate to it being walkable, Skwirut said.
The deepest part of Lake Mendota lies between Picnic Point and Maple Bluff, Skwirut said.
“The story goes that the researchers would fully determine that the lake was frozen by taking a case of beer in a canoe from Picnic Point over to Maple Bluff and if they couldn’t make it, then the lake was completely frozen,” Skwirut said.
The Mendota Freeze Contest was started as a way for the Clean Lakes Alliance to reach out to the community and encourage community involvement year-round. Summer activities are abundant on the lake, but the contest is a way to bring in people to pay attention to the lakes in the winter months as well, Skwirut said.
Last year, over 2,000 people entered the contest and 88 people correctly guessed the freeze date. A winner is randomly selected from all entrants who guessed the correct freeze date to win a $1,000 Lands’ End gift card, Skwirut said.
“This contest allows us to bring in people who maybe are not as familiar with weather or ecology, and it’s just a fun game that anybody can participate in,” Skwirut said. “Then from there, maybe they become interested in the Clean Lakes Alliance and learn a little bit more.”
The earliest freeze date in history for Lake Mendota was Nov. 23, 1880, and the latest freeze date was Jan. 30, 1932. Last year’s winter freeze date was Jan. 15, 2024, Skwirut said. The freeze date is officially determined by the Wisconsin State Climatology Office.
By tracking the freeze date throughout history, researchers were able to discover Lake Mendota has lost an average of 30 total days of ice cover over the winter period since the 1850s, Skwirut said.
Along with the Mendota Freeze Contest, the Clean Lakes Alliance holds two other large-scale awareness-raising events every year, the Frozen Assets Festival and the Loop the Lake Ride, Skwirut said. Along with these events, the Clean Lakes Alliance holds volunteer days year-round focusing on land, and majorly prairie restoration.
“Our role here at the Clean Lakes Alliance is to help empower people to feel ownership over their lakes and their community, and inspire them to support protections for water quality,” Skwirut said.
All Wisconsin residents can enter the 2024-2025 Mendota Freeze Contest via the Clean Lakes Alliance contest entry page for a chance to guess the freeze date correctly and win a $1,000 Lands’ End gift card.
