LOTS OF OPEN WATER AT DULUTH

OPEN WATER BEYOND DULUTH HARBOR

Friday, 9:30 AM.  34 degrees F at the ferry dock, 30 on the back porch.  The sky is again overcast but the sun is trying its best.  The wind is S, calm with moderate gusts.  The humidity is 77% and the barometer is bumping along the bottom of a trough, now at 29.84".  The roads are covered with a thin layer of ice, either from snow melt or we may have had some freezing drizzle.  In any case it is very slippery,  I fell once before calling our walk quits, and there will be a lot of fender benders this morning.
   I had an appointment in Duluth yesterday afternoon (it turned sunny yesterday, at last) and there is open water as far as the eye can see outside the harbor.  I saw no evidence of boat movent but there are a half dozen or more lakers tied up for winter maintenance.  I think the Soo Locks at the east end of the big lake are closed but that is not definitive.
   Lakes Superior, Michigan and Huron are predicted to be back to it their historic average levels by midsummer after being down as much as two feet over past years.  All this open water is in direct contrast to last winter's thick ice which was three feet thick in many places.
   I don't think there will be ice enough for the Ice Caves to be open, and unless we get colder weather and some new snow the sled dog races coming up in two weeks could be in jeopardy.