Sea Caves Watch
Mainland Sea Cave Access, Jan. 17, 2014
For the first time since 2009, the Apostle Islands' mainland sea caves are accessible over the ice.
Soo Locks close...
On Wednesday afternoon in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, the Soo Locks closed to vessel traffic for the season and Great Lakes freighters headed into port for winter layup.
Because of the heavy ice on the St. Marys River, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had planned to allow ships that left port before Wednesday to lock through. The extra time wouldn’t be needed, though. The tug Victory and barge James L. Kuber were the final commercial vessels through, followed at 4 p.m. by the downbound U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bristol Bay, heading home to Detroit after weeks of breaking ice in the river.
The Soo Locks reopen on March 25. The Corps will spend the winter completing maintenance projects, while vessels on the Great Lakes head into layup for annual repairs and upkeep.
Ten freighters will winter in the Twin Ports this year; two are laid up in Thunder Bay.
... and the Apostles' sea caves open
On Wednesday, rangers at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore said ice conditions allow over-the-ice access to the lakeshore’s mainland sea caves, which hadn’t been accessible by foot since 2009. Before you go, call the Ice Line at 715-779-3397 ext. 3 for the latest conditions.
+ The Sea Caves Watch website has hourly images of the ice.
+ Environment Canada’s Ice Service has some neat graphics of ice cover on Lake Superior, updated daily.
Iron Ore Shipments Down in 2013
More fallout from the harsh start to winter: The Lake Carriers’ Association says iron ore shipments on the Great Lakes were down 20 percent in December, year-over-year, to 5.1 million tons. The iron ore trade in 2013 was running “slightly behind” 2012, the LCA says, but “weather-related delays at loadings docks and vessels … either slowed by or beset in heavy ice” widened the gap significantly.
Vessels traversing the St. Marys River, beset by heavy and early ice, lightened their loads to ease passage on the waterway that links Lake Superior to Lake Huron. (As the Soo Locks’ closure approached, transit times on the river ballooned from the typical nine hours to several days.)
“Some companies reduced loaded drafts by more than a foot between Christmas and New Year’s,” the LCA said in a news release. “For a 1,000-foot-long vessel, that reduced draft translated into 4,000 tons of taconite pellets left at the loading dock.”
+ Paul Sundberg's latest Photos of the Week from northeastern Minnesota.
+ Dan Roblee, Daily Mining Gazette: In the snowy Keweenaw, gathering winter data is an inexact science.
+ Carl Clutchey, in Thunder Bay's Chronicle-Journal: "Hundreds of robins that would normally be in much warmer locales at this time of year are being spotted east of Thunder Bay along Lake Superior after braving and surviving record-breaking low temperatures just a few weeks ago."