Like many lakes in northern Minnesota, Mille Lacs near Brainerd experienced an uncommonly warm winter this year, with lower than average snowfall.

Mille Lacs is Minnesota’s second largest lake, and a popular tourism destination year-round.

Typically in February, the lake is covered with plowed roads used by ice anglers and other adventurers. This year, winter activities were slow to start. The official "ice in" date was much later, and the "ice out" date much earlier.

Natural color Landsat images from the past ten Februarys are shown here, revealing the stark change in 2024.

February's average temperature of 28 degrees Fahrenheit was the highest of the past 10 years.

Landsat's 50 year archive is just one of many important resources used by scientists around the world to study snow and ice trends like these.