Madison Lakes Still Likely To Freeze Over This Season, Experts Say | Public Spaces

The recent temperatures along with a mild winter overall have kept area lakes from freezing over, but along Monona Bay, a few brave ice fisherman still were waiting for the day's catch.

Officials from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Limnology said that lakes Mendota and Monona have always frozen over in the winter, since the late 1800s, but over the years, researchers said the lakes are frozen for shorter periods of time.

Dedicated local anglers said the mild winters aren't stopping them from enjoying their sport.

"The ice isn't really all that bad," Thomas Paine. "It's about 2.5 to 3 inches thick. It's not too terrible."

UW researchers said past seasons have seen the lakes freeze as late as early February, which is why they expect the lakes still will freeze over sometime this year.

Forecasters are predicting much colder temperatures after Thursday's predicted snowfall.