Great Lakes Ice Update.

Hopefully this takes a chunk out of ice dilemma.
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"INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard crews kept up their battle Monday to clear pathways for vessels hauling vital raw materials on the ice-clogged Great Lakes, where a shipping logjam forced a weeklong shutdown of the nation's largest steel factory.

Traffic remained largely at a crawl after a winter that produced some of the heaviest ice on record across the five inland seas, where more than half the surface area remained solid this week. Icebreaking ships slogging across Lake Superior were still encountering ice layers 2 feet to 3 feet thick. In some areas, wind and wave action created walls of ice up to 14 feet high."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-04-07-16-49-55

MM
 
I work at US Steel in Gary Indiana , they have cut back our production to about 20 % . All of our ore pellets are ship in I'm at the 84" Hot Strip rolling mill mgt. Has told us we have no steel to run , the hot strip will be down for a least 48 to 56 hrs then possible 12 to 15 running turns until we can get ore pellets .
 
I am waiting to go in at Oselka, they are fixing some piers of theirs before they start launching. I'm in no hurry this year since they aren't turning the water on at the docks for another week or two.
 
We have electric at our marina but no water and a foot of ice still.
 
Ice is out at the north end of Spring Lake. I believe the ice will be mostly gone on the entire lake tomorrow. The River is open to Lake Michigan.
 
Looks like it will be a real cold water summer, if we even have one...

"Cold Water, Cool Summer Expected

Photo by David Moore for BlackburnNews.com
Dreaming of a hot beach and warm lake water may be just a dream after all.

Scientists from the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) in Ann Arbor, Michigan now say it could be a short, cool summer. Worse, the temperature of water in the lakes is expected to keep even the most die-hard of swimmers away. The chilly forecast has a lot to do with the long, frigid winter, but it can also be attributed to the almost complete freezing over of the Great Lakes this winter.

On March 13, 2014 the five Great Lakes were 92% covered by ice –the second highest ice cover percentage after 1979, when ice took over 94% of the bodies of water. Scientists say that’s going to have an affect on both water and air temperatures this summer.

“Water can modulate air temperature nearby,” Dr. Jia Wang, an ice climatologist with GLERL, says. ”The heat [capacity] for water is… larger than the air temperature. That means it can hold a lot more heat in the water than the air, so if the water temperature is cold then certainly our summer will be cool.”

Dr. Wang says it’s likely swimmers won’t enjoy taking a dip at the beach until late summer.

“Maybe last year people could jump into the water, but this year you cannot jump into the water until very late, maybe the middle of August,” Dr. Wang says. “I would guess this year the maximum surface of the water temperature will be 15 degrees [Celcius], average.”

The climatologist says he received a call this winter from a woman who swam across Lake Ontario twice. Dr. Wang says he told her 2014 is not the summer to try for a third time, the water will just be too cold for a solo swim.

A satellite measurement taken on April 6 shows ice still covers 54% of the surface of the Great Lakes. Dr. Wang says that ice will not disappear until late April, but there is a silver lining: the extensive ice cover this winter blocked a lot of the evaporation that is generally seen during a warmer winter. Dr. Wang says that means water levels in all five lakes will be higher this summer than in years past.

The frigid water temperatures should also limit the amount of algae that grows in the lakes this summer, Dr. Wang says.

“The colder temperature will suppress the early growth of harmful algal blooms –”habs”– and that means we should have cleaner water or higher quality water this year.”

Dr. Wang also expects the cold water will decrease the number of zebra mussels taking over parts of the Great Lakes System this summer."

http://blackburnnews.com/london/2014/04/08/cold-water-cool-summer-expected/

MM
 
Well that's depressing... But the good news is that I splashed today! Headed down Saturday to get her all cleaned up. Just hope I don't fall in...
 
Just flew over L Michigan from North Chicago to Racine.
Matchy ice up towards the Racine area but very clear down Chicago way.
leaving out at 1:00pm cst and may have an update on lower Michigan and Erie sometime tonight.
Pictures to follow.
 
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Ice Breaking operations to begin in Georgian Bay this weekend/next week. That should help the breakup.
 
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