NOAA/GLERL
Ice Cover, Jan. 24, 2014
Lake Superior ice cover at 57 percent
On Tuesday, ice cover on the Big Lake surpassed 50 percent – here’s our post on that milestone – and at week’s end was hovering around 57. Last winter, the coverage topped out at 40.5 percent.
Ice cover helps limit evaporation – good news for the recovering lake level, which is now an inch shy of its long-term average. That also means less lake-effect snow, which, depending on your inclinations, may or may not be cause for celebration.
+ The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore mainland sea caves remain open as of Friday. Check the Ice Line (715-779-3397 ext. 3) for the most up-to-date conditions. Several of our photographer friends and contributors have visited the sea caves recently and came back with spectacular photos. If you love winter, the caves are a must-see.
U.S.-flag Great Lakes fleets end 2013 slightly down
The Lake Carriers’ Association reports:
Significant weather and ice delays and cancelled cargos limited U.S.-flag cargo movement on the Great Lakes to just 7.1 million tons in December and as a result, the fleet’s year-end total slipped to 89.2 million tons, a decrease of 0.4 percent compared to 2012.
Iron ore was down 3 percent to 43.9 million tons. Because of the cold and ice, December shipments were down 21 percent.
Coal cargos were up 3.7 percent in 2013, to 18.2 million tons, and the LCA says that total would have been higher had several late-season runs not been canceled. Limestone was also up; the 22.1 million tons, an increase of 1.5 percent, was the most since 2008. Other cargo totals on the Great Lakes, including cement, grain, sand and salt, “were largely in line with 2012,” LCA says.
+ Receiving about 200 inches of snow each year, Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan, is the snowiest U.S. college, reports the Daily Mining Gazette. The University of Minnesota Duluth is fifth on the list at 86 inches.
+ Canadian Steamship Lines' new laker Thunder Bay visited its namesake city for the first time last year. This week, CSL presented the city with a model of the vessel, reports the Chronicle-Journal.
+ Great Lakes Echo: “Effects of ice on fish mixed.”
+ Minnesota's Cook and Lake counties have been quarantined because of gypsy moth infestations, reports the Duluth News Tribune's John Myers.
+ In Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, the Lake Superior State University planetarium has a new all-dome projector, reports Soo Evening News.
+ Dan Roblee, Daily Mining Gazette: "Ski Patrol alums launch endowment for Mont Ripley."