Freighter, Beach, Bay, and Sucker River

Other people in Grand Marais have seen freighters pass by over the last couple of weeks, but the first I saw was a couple of days ago. I captured these photos from the boardwalk at Agate Beach. It is always interesting to see freighters with ice in the foreground.




A couple of shots looking west from the boardwalk. Although there is no snow on the beach, the shore ice is still sticking firm.




The ice in Grand Marais bay is starting to break up.



Here are a couple of shots taken from the bridge in the school forest. The angle is a bit different, but you can see from the position of the red arrows that the melt over a 24 hour period progressed.




The wide bend of the Sucker River in the school forest is the first place my kids ever caught fish. The merging of the two photos is not that great, but it still gives you an idea of what the river looks like this week from that spot.





I'll have to get the total snowfall amount from the local county road commission, but I think Grand Marais only received around 180 inches of snow for the season. Considering that most years we receive well over 250 inches, and in some years over 350 inches -- the winter patterns seem to be changing. Many of the storms went south of the U.P. Below is information about the highest snowfall totals in each state.



Location State Snowfall Totals from October 1, 2010 until April 1, 2011. There were ten states that had snowfall amounts more than Grand Marais including CA, CO, MT, NV, NY, OR, UT, VT, WV, and WA. Washington received the most at 565.2 inches.

HAINES AK 134.4 inches
VALLEY HEAD AL 16.8 inches
DEER AR 30.0 inches
BRIGHT ANGEL AZ 88.8 inches
LODGEPOLE CA 366.0 inches
CLIMAX CO 256.8 inches
STAFFORDVILLE CT 100.8 inches
BEAR DE 27.6 inches
SILOAM 3N GA 14.4 inches
WAUKON IA 63.6 inches
DIXIE NORTH ID 180.0 inches
SPRING GROVE IL 58.8 inches
LAPORTE IN 106.8 inches
LECOMPTON KS 43.2 inches
HEIDELBERG KY 43.2 inches
SHREVEPORT LA 6.0 inches
WEST OTIS MA 121.2 inches
OAKLAND MD 134.4 inches
RANGELEY ME 156.0 inches
TWIN LAKES MI 196.8 inches
MORGAN MN 94.8 inches
NEW FRANKLIN MO 51.6 inches
ASHLAND MS 15.6 inches
WEST YELLOWSTONE GATEWAY MT 182.4 inches
MT MITCHELL NC 130.8 inches
WILLISTON SLOULIN FLD ND 86.4 inches
BLOOMFIELD NE 43.2 inches
DIAMOND POND NH 174.0 inches
HARRISON NJ 66.0 inches
CHAMA NM 73.2 inches
DAGGET PASS NV 201.6 inches
HOOKER NY 193.2 inches
CHARDON OH 142.8 inches
SPAVINAW OK 33.6 inches
CRATER LAKE OR 433.2 inches
CHANDLERS VALLEY PA 151.2 inches
WOONSOCKET RI 52.8 inches
HARTSVILLE SC 12.0 inches
LEAD SD 156.0 inches
ALLARDT TN 36.0 inches
VEGA 2NW TX 21.6 inches
ALTA UT 379.2 inches
NORA VA 75.6 inches
MT MANSFIELD VT 229.2 inches
RAINIER PARADISE WA 565.2 inches
UPSON WI 142.8 inches
TERRA ALTA WV 193.2 inches
MOOSE WY 171.6 inches