Two veteran lake watchers have confirmed the official date the ice left Sylvan Lake’s surface this year.
It was Saturday (May 17) according to both Dave Corey at Pete’s At The Beach and Marina Bay resident and former Sylvan Lake Mayor Susan Samson.
There was ice on the lake early in the morning, but by 11 a.m. warm sunshine had melted the deteriorated ice to such a state that it disappeared.
It didn’t take long after that for motor and sail boats to appear on the lake. A tour around the shores Saturday afternoon found launch activity at Sunbreaker Cove, Kuusamo and Range Road 21 beside Half Moon Bay.
Several people also dove into the frigid waters off the end of the landfill during the weekend.
There is always much interest in disappearance of ice on the lake, particularly whether it will disappear before the unofficial start of the summer, the May long weekend.
A chart compiled by Sylvan Lake News for our Centennial section last year, and reprinted in our Discover Sylvan Lake 2014 magazine which began distribution last week, indicates the earliest the ice left was on April 20th in 1941 and the latest was on May 30th in 1920. Last year it disappeared six days earlier than this year — on May 11th.