GREEN BAY – A brutal winter that slowed the start of the 2014 shipping season on the Great Lakes has one organization asking Congress for another heavy icebreaker.
The Lake Carriers’ Association said it would like to see a second vessel built to keep shipping lanes open on the lakes during harsh winter conditions. The group is requesting another ship similar to the Marinette Marine Corp.-built U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw.
Things are looking equally chilly this winter.
Lake Erie on January 9th was mostly ice free. That hasn't lasted, however.
As of Thursday, ice covered 34.1 percent of the Great Lakes, up from just 5.6 percent on Jan. 1, and 10.8 percent on Jan. 5 — the first day of a polar plunge that gripped most of the eastern U.S. for days to come.
“Last year, the Great Lakes were 21.2 percent ice-covered on Jan. 14, making this year’s ice cover 13 percent higher to date,” writes weather.com. “If you recall, below-average temperatures were persistent from mid-January onward in the winter of 2014, leading to the second highest ice coverage on record at 92.2 percent on March 6, 2014.”
By the way, my suggestion for the name of the new icebreaker: SS CW!
By the way, my suggestion for the name of the new icebreaker: SS CW!
Global cooling is becoming a serious issue.
ReplyDeleteThe rivers here along lake Erie were frozen in November, my buddy who owns a marina and who's father owned it before him, had never seen it happen. The ice will start to get thicker each year on the lake, and boating season will have to wait. We had 41 volcano's going on, on the same day last week, a rarity, we usually only have between 40 - 60 a year, so that'll block even more sunlight next year. Expect an even cooled winter next year, yup 2014 was the hottest year on record, what a bunch of crap !!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe rivers here along lake Erie were frozen in November, my buddy who owns a marina and who's father owned it before him, had never seen it happen. The ice will start to get thicker each year on the lake, and boating season will have to wait. We had 41 volcano's going on, on the same day last week, a rarity, we usually only have between 40 - 60 a year, so that'll block even more sunlight next year. Expect an even cooled winter next year, yup 2014 was the hottest year on record, what a bunch of crap !!!!!
ReplyDeleteLet's tie Al Gore to the bow of it!
ReplyDeleteI suppose it is too much to ask for the shipping companies to buy and opperate their own damn ice breakers.
ReplyDelete--Hale
Nothing but the truth.
DeleteCan't we all agree that it's up to mankind to reverse the trend of global cooling?
ReplyDelete