Are Ice Out dates getting earlier? 

Based on data from 1950 to 2019 (a short time frame on a large time scale) data does suggest ice out dates may be occurring earlier.  Nevertheless, caution is always important when making inferences from data.  For example, 2018 surpassed the previous latest ice out date of April 29th (1965, and again in 2013) by one day.  Conversely, 2017 broke the previous earliest ice out date of March 9 (1987, and 2000) by two days.  It should also be noted that in 2017 there was a refreeze where there were technically two ice out dates: March 7, and again on March 22 where there was a refreeze between these dates.  Needless to say, even if there is a trend toward earlier ice out dates, there is great variation across successive years.