Duluth a parking lot for freighters; no vessels moving on Lake Superior
DULUTH, MN – Anchored off Duluth are Edgar B. Speer, Great Republic, John G, Munson, Michipicoten, Clyde S. VanEnkevort, CSL Laurentian, American Spirit and Stewart J. Cort, which finished loading pellets at Superior and moved offshore so American Integrity could take her place at the shiploader.
Besides American Integrity, docked vessels are Alpena, H. Lee White, American Century, John J. Boland, Joseph L. Block and Arthur M. Anderson. To the east, Edwin H. Gott is on the hook at Two Harbors, which Mesabi Miner and James R. Barker are tucked in at the lower end of the Keweenaw Peninsula.
Algoma Equinox and Federal Kushiro were anchored in the lee of Whitefish Bay, with Kaye E. Barker and Presque Isle anchored in Goulais Bay on the Canadian side. Maumee/Victory and Manitoulin remain docked at Algoma Steel until the storm clears.
Further afield, the Interlake vessels Hertbert C. Jackson, Hon James L. Oberstar and Paul R. Tregurtha were anchored above DeTour on the St. Marys River, along with John D. Leitch and Philip R. Clarke. American Mariner and Ashtabula/Defiance sought shelter north of St. Ignace. Burns Harbor remained stopped of Port Inland in the lee of Seul Choix Point.
Walter J. McCarthy Jr. hove-to off Milwaukee Friday night but was underway northbound Saturday morning. Manitowoc, anchored off Alpena, will resume her trip to Manistee when the weather clears.
Lee A. Tregurtha tied up at Nicholson’s Dock in Detroit to wait out the weather.
Massive 20-foot storm seiche rolls across Lake Erie
DETROIT, MI – We’re used to big storms over the Great Lakes producing some big waves, but a phenomenon is forecast to happen in Lake Erie during this current storm that is going to look like a huge, rolling section of water. It’s called a seiche (pronounced say-sh) and it’s kind of like if you tipped a nearly-full bathtub of water and sent ripples rolling from one end to the other.
From the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL): “The upcoming winter storm is predicted to cause a massive seiche in Lake Erie, with a water level difference of nearly 20 ft (6 m) between Toledo & Buffalo!“ They describe a seiche is a large, standing wave that oscillates in a body of water.
The GLERL researchers say Lake Erie is known for having seiches when strong winds blow. “However, the seiche this Fri-Sat is predicted to be off the charts – literally! GLERL scientists had to extend the range of our color scales & graphs to account for it.”
Waves on the Great Lakes are expected to reach more than 30 feet high in isolated areas, while sustained winds could push enough water east to cause flooding that could reach record levels in Buffalo, N.Y.
In eastern Lake Erie, winds in the mid-60 mile-an-hour range were forecast to create waves up to 32 feet high in open water about five miles north of Conneaut, Ohio, according to the National Weather Service in Cleveland.
Images on Facebook show Lake Erie islands ferries sitting on the bottom at docks in Sandusky, Ohio, as the water level dropped to -42 inches below datum.
Due to wind and water levels, AIS showed no vessels moving on the lake Saturday morning. Vessels anchored to the east of Sandusky include Evans Spirit, Dorothy Ann/Pathfinder, Florence Spirit, CSL Niagara, CSL Tadoussac and Algoma Intrepid. On the Canadian side, Algoma Sault, Frontenac, Algocanada and Algonova were anchored off Turkey Point.
No vessels were moving in the Welland Canal Saturday morning.
View charts at this MLive link: https://www.mlive.com/news/2022/12/massive-20-foot-storm-seiche-forecast-to-roll-across-lake-erie.html
Storm to bring 20-foot waves to four of five Great Lakes; freighters batten down
DETROIT, MI – Twenty-foot waves on the Great Lakes as fall turns to winter are not uncommon. But 20-foot waves on every Great Lake are.
But that could be in the cards this weekend as a “once in a generation” Arctic storm moving through North America unleashes its wrath over the Great Lakes region. And with large freighters still shipping on the Great Lakes, ship captains and crews are doing what they can to get ready. Around the Great Lakes, freighters have gone to anchor in sheltered areas or have stayed tied up to docks.
“The forecast is for 20-foot waves or a little higher on just about all the Great Lakes − maybe a little less on Lake Huron,” said Daniel Titze, a physical scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor.
“It’s not super-common.”
Read more and view charts at this Detroit Free Press link: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2022/12/22/winter-storm-20-foot-waves-great-lakes/69751971007/
