Mild winter keeps Big Lake warm and ice-free
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Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
Lake Superior Surface Temperature: Dec. 10, 2015
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Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
Lake Superior Surface Temperature: Dec. 10, 2014
Lake Superior has yet to develop ice this winter, which on its own isn’t so unusual for the Big Lake. Last year at this time, less than 2 percent of Lake Superior was covered in ice. Ice doesn’t usually start developing in noteworthy amounts until January.
That may not happen on schedule this winter. Yesterday – Thursday, December 10 – the Lake’s average surface temperature was 42.22 degrees Fahrenheit (5.68 degrees Celsius), the warmest water temp recorded on that day in 22 years of available data. That mark is 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit (and 1.28 degrees Celsius) warmer than the long-term average for the day. Lake Superior’s surface temperature has been above average since September, in fact.
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Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
Lake Superior Surface Analysis: Dec. 10, 2015
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Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
Lake Superior Surface Analysis: Dec. 10, 2014
We can point to the mild start to winter for the warm water (well, warm for December, anyway). This November was the third-warmest on record in Michigan and fourth-warmest in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The first 10 days of December were the warmest in 141 years of record-keeping in Duluth, averaging 33.9 degrees Fahrenheit (1.06 degrees Celsius) – a whopping 15.7 degrees Fahrenheit (and 8.73 degrees Celsius) above normal.
El Niño might seem like the obvious culprit, but previous strong El Niños have not brought warm falls to the region. In 1997-98, the last strong El Niño winter, November temperatures were actually below average here. The weather turned much warmer from December on, however, much like what we’re now experiencing.
It’s difficult to know what all of this means for a 2015-16 winter that’s so far largely devoid of snow. The National Weather Service predicts a warmer-than-normal winter, but leaves open the possibility that the warmth will be front-loaded ahead of a normal January and February. Or perhaps the El Niño-powered warmth will continue, as in ’97-98. As for snow, some El Niño years provide plenty, while others bring hardly any at all.
But let’s get back to ice.
The frigid winters of 2013-14 and 2014-15 enabled access to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore mainland sea caves, which in winter become the Apostle Islands ice caves. The caves often aren’t accessible even in non-El Niño years, so if early December is any hint, a three-peat won’t be in the offing.
Our best hope for wintry weather? Maybe we should try the Heikki Lunta snow dance (recorded by Da Yoopers of Ishpeming).
Heikki Lunta
Great Lakes Aquarium to develop new exhibit
Peter Passi, Duluth News Tribune:
Representatives of the Great Lakes Aquarium hope to insert a straw into surplus tourism taxes collected by the city of Duluth in 2015.
The attraction will seek an additional $200,000 on top of the $360,000 it was budgeted to receive in 2015, to help fund a new permanent exhibit called “The Amazing World of the Unsalted Seas.”
The exhibit would open by August 2016, when the Tall Ships festival returns to Duluth.
Iron ore trade continues to tumble
According to Eric Haun of MarineLink.com:
Shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes totaled 4.9 million tons in November, a decrease of 17 percent compared to a year ago, according to latest figures from the Lakes Carriers’ Association (LCA). Shipments were down 12 percent from the month’s five-year average.
That makes four straight months of year-over-year declines. Rick Nolan, a Democratic congressman from northern Minnesota, introduced legislation this month to effectively ban foreign steel imports. A glut of cheap overseas steel is blamed for idling operations of many mines and mills here, in turn affecting the Great Lakes shippers that transport ore. Many legislators and business executives allege that illegal steel dumping has upended the market, as Business North has reported.
Jampot plans expansion: The Keweenaw bakery and confectionery shop, operated by monks of the Society of St. John, reported a banner year with sales up 17 percent. “We produced jam full-time practically every day during the season, but, using current methods and equipment, we found it impossible to keep up,” said Hieromonk Nicholas in announcing an appeal last month. Work on the new facility could begin in late 2016.
Lake trout rule change approved in Wisconsin: “The rule, which includes a daily bag limit of three lake trout in key recreational areas, was developed through extensive public input,” writes Larry Servinsky in the Ashland Daily Press.
Francis Clergue statue to get new head: The old one used a projection system to animate the Sault Ste. Marie icon’s face, part of an interactive display at the Old Stone House museum. But the system broke down, and the featureless visage has been unsettling visitors, reports SooToday.com’s David Helwig in a fun bit of writing.
Thunder Bay kids make contact with Santa: Operation Radio Santa, led by the 38th Signal Regiment, has been delighting children since 1982, says Leith Dunick at TBNewsWatch.com.