Lake News:

Maple Lake Winter Ice Conditions/Thickness Info

12.27.2022  – 7″ along shore of big Maple. 9.5″ in the middle where there is less snow.
12.1.2022  – Big Maple officially froze over

Remember: Always use your best judgement and safety when it comes to being on the ice. Ice is NEVER SAFE. You can’t judge the strength of ice just by its appearance, age, thickness, temperature, or whether or not the ice is covered with snow. Strength is based on all these factors — plus the depth of water under the ice, size of the water body, water chemistry and currents, the distribution of the load on the ice, and local climatic conditions. There is no such thing as 100 percent safe ice. Visit the Minnesota DNR site for more Ice Safety tips and information.

Maple Lake Ice thickness map
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AND THEN IT BLEW!!
Maple Lake, Minnesota Storm of 2017

Sunday morning June 11th started out as a normal weekend day.  Coffee, breakfast and Sunday paper finished shortly after 8:00 AM. Plenty of time to relax before a shower and getting ready for church at 10:00. There was some thunder, lightning and light rain in the area. One of my little pleasures living on Maple Lake is watching a storm approach across the water. My wife and I were standing in front of our big picture window doing just that when suddenly the wind exploded through the trees and the lake disappeared in rain, hail, branches and leaves. I saw two mid-sized Elm trees sway once and then snap off about 10 feet off the ground and land harmlessly in the back yard. Then the power went out and whatever normal was disappeared for many people around Maple Lake, in the surrounding area and other parts of the State. Just as suddenly as the wind had arrived it subsided to something close to normal. It seemed to only take a minute for all this to happen.

I managed a quick shower in the dark before the pressure tank gave out then went out to check for damage finding several trees down and a boat lift canopy loose and torn. Could have been worse!!  Heading west into Maple Lake I didn’t notice a lot of wind damage on the way to church nor did we hear much after mass from others. A tour around the lake after church showed significant damage in many areas. Parts of Donnelly Dr. on Little Maple were a real mess. Some homes on the North end of Donnelly near Hwy 37 had little or no damage at all. Whatever people’s plans were for Sunday June 11th suddenly changed for most. The storm hit Middle Maple very hard and ran along the Donnelly side of little Maple.

By time you read this we will all have heard about many incidences that occurred because of the storm. So far I have heard of one person injured because of a tree through the bedroom roof. Thankfully not life threatening. Many boats, canopies and lifts damaged. A number of boats, and pontoons actually sunk. Homes and out buildings were damaged by fallen trees and branches. Some vehicles were also banged up. Power was back on in my area about 6:30 PM Sunday.. A few didn’t get power till Monday morning. One resident on the lake said he actually didn’t realize the storm was that severe until he went outside after it was all over. They had no property damage.

Once again I am quite amazed how quickly residents in the Maple Lake Area can come together when incidents such as this storm require assistance from others. By Sunday noon the area was full of people helping each other. Chainsaws clearing downed trees and branches, trucks and trailer hauling away debris, tractors and skid steers moving and loading trees, men, women and children raking and picking up leaves and branches. Neighbors working together, friends and relatives coming over to assist, and I’m sure some of you reading this probably had a stranger ask if you needed help.  Sometimes disasters such as this can make a community stronger, but as this is being wrote this area is under a ”tornado” watch and a thunderstorm warning” for tonight. You know what I say. “MAPLE LAKE IS STRONG ENOUGH, WE DON’T NEED ANOTHER TEST JUST TO BE SURE”.

-Anonymous