Sand Point Beach. Duluth firefighters accompany the man surfer Darby Voeks rescued from Lake Superior on Wednesday, March 24, 2021. However, nitrate concentrations in the lake have been continuously rising for more than a century. Lake Superior is among the world's fastest-warming freshwater bodies and has increasingly borne the force of what used to be considered once-in-a-lifetime storms. The "Great Storm of 1913" (also described as the "Freshwater Fury" or the "White Hurricane") is remembered as the worst natural disaster in the recorded history of the Lakes. [50], As for other Great Lakes fish, populations have also been affected by the accidental or intentional introduction of foreign species such as the sea lamprey and Eurasian ruffe. As in all of Barrs books, the reader is totally immersed into the setting. Authorities worked to. Rescues continue to be made across eastern Kentucky Monday, four days after a historic flooding event devastated towns across the region and left at least 30 dead. Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, Twin Cities Pioneer Press: Spectacularly Intact 1897 Shipwreck Discovered in Lake Superior, The Travel Channel: The Great Lakes Video, EPA: Physical Features of the Great Lakes, In rare case, mother delivers two sets of identical twins, back to back. The deepest point in the lake is 405 metresor 1,333 feet. Over 10,000 lives have been lost in her waters. From Kenora, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste Marie and Sudbury, Duluth, Marquette, Houghton, Keweenaw Peninsula, Upper Michigan, Sault Ste Marie, Cook Country, Minnesota. [32] The water surface's slow reaction to temperature changes, seasonally ranging between 32 and 55F (013C) around 1970,[33] helps to moderate surrounding air temperatures in the summer (cooler with frequent sea breeze formations) and winter, and creates lake-effect snow in colder months. Strong winds and high waves contributed to the deaths of two kayakers at Lake Superior following a two-day search, officials said. In the 1600s it was called Le Lac Superior, or "upper lake," by the French missionaries, denoting its . The lake's water level fluctuates from month to month, with the highest lake levels in October and November. [18], American limnologist J. Val Klump was the first person to reach the lowest depth of Lake Superior on July 30, 1985, as part of a scientific expedition, which at 122 fathoms 1 foot (733ft or 223m) below sea level is the second-lowest spot in the continental interior of the United States and the third-lowest spot in the interior of the North American continent after Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada (1,503 feet[458m] below sea level) and Iliamna Lake in Alaska (942 feet [287 m] below sea level). Over 10,000 lives have been lost in her waters. That story turned my whole novel around. Lake Superior continually shapes the Pictured Rocks shoreline. During most winters, the lake is 40 to 95 percent covered with ice, although it rarely completely freezes. They are believed to be the direct ancestors of the Ojibwe and Cree. Shipping was slow to arrive at Lake Superior in the 19th century. The deepest point in the lake is 405 metres or 1,333 feet. Lake Superior Facts. Lake Superior boasts extremely clear water, with an average underwater visibility of 27 feet (8.2 m). Today, tourism is another significant industry: the sparsely populated Lake Superior country, with its rugged shorelines and wilderness, attracts vacationers and adventurers. Lake Baikal is unique in a number of other ways too. It has a mean surface elevation of 600 feet (180 metres) above sea level and a maximum depth of 1,332 feet (406 metres). Winter temperatures around the lake rarely fall below minus 30 F (minus 34 C), well above inland temperatures. [35] The lake lies in this long-extinct Mesoproterozoic rift valley, the Midcontinent Rift. Don't forget to keep Copper Peak in the U.P. Talks & Readings, Search Events Staffers with the sanctuary, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, took a sonar survey in the area of the Ironton-Ohio collision in 2017. Small amounts of water are also diverted into the lake from two places otherwise outside of the watershedLong Lac and Ogokiin order to accentuate hydroelectric power generation at Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, and Niagara Falls. 1. Maximum Depth*: 1,332 ft. Environment The continental crust was later riven, creating one of the deepest rifts in the world. Lake Superior is the world's largest freshwater lake by surface area - 31,700 square miles (82,100 square kilometers) - and holds 10 percent of the world's surface freshwater. Most of the Superior basin is forested, with little agriculture because of a cool climate and poor soils. The vessel is largely intact, Gray said. Situated on the northern edge of Wisconsin, Lake Superior extends from the upper peninsula of Michigan north to Ontario, Canada, and reaches west to the eastern edge of Minnesota. ), 23. [25] In the summer of 2007 monthly historic lows were set; August at 0.66 feet (0.20m), September at 0.58 feet (0.18m). A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. Its a powerful, tragic story, Gandulla said. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. There is also a walking path around the lake but it is 20+ kilometers. Land Drainage Area: 49,300 sq. The average depth is 483 ft (147 m), and the max depth is 1,333 ft (406 m). Lake Superior was featured in a songwritten by Gordon Lightfoot called "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Beginning with deaths that occurred in 1999, causes of death have been coded according to the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition. Coordinates: 47.90161354, -87.55004883. (Steve Kuchera / Forum News Service) DULUTH, Minn. When Darby Voeks heard the . Duluth Seaway Port Authority [b] The shoreline of the lake stretches 2,726 miles (4,387km) (including islands). Extending through Canada and the United States, about 444,000 US residents and 229,000 Canadian residents live along the shores of Lake Superior. On May 12, 1982, the lake claimed another victim: thirty-three-year-old Debbie Race. But apart from its wide surface area, Lake Superior also boasts a wowing depth of 1,332 feet or 406 meters. [25] 2019 and 2020 set new high-water records in nearly every month. The average temperature of Lake Superior is 36F or 2C very refreshing on a hot summer day! "At the beginning of October, Lake Superior is (1.6 inches) below the long-term average water level (1918 - 2020) and (12.2 inches) below the level of a year ago," according to a new release . Lloyd W. Krohn, 55, of Wyoming, Minnesota, was diving in a party of three on a charter SCUBA trip to the park operated by Isle Royale Charters, Inc. Gale force winds up to 35 knots and waves occasionally reaching 7 feet proved too much for two kayakers at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore who swamped in the rough water and died. The lake is about 160 miles (257 kilometers) wide and about 350 miles (563 km) long. They are wonderful men, and so interesting. Marie. [34] These ancient granites can be seen on the North Shore today. The lake's average depth is 483 feet while its deepest point is 1,333 ft. Lake Superior holds 2,900 cubic miles of water which is enough to cover South and North America to a depth of 12 inches. If you stretched the shoreline of Lake Superior out to a straight line, it would be long enough to reach from Duluth, Minnesota to the Bahamas. Edit. On the eastern edge of the city of Thunder Bay, the Terry Fox Monument and Travel Information Centre stands on a bluff above Highway 11/17, providing a superb vista of the Sleeping Giant, the Thunder Bay icon, and the bay named Thunder Bay. Annual lake-level fluctuations are less than 12 inches (30 cm). Lake Superior is. Wreckage of SSCyprusa 420-foot (130m) ore carrier that sank on October 11, 1907, during a Lake Superior storm in 77 fathoms (460ft or 140m) of waterwas located in August 2007. SS Edmund Fitzgerald, 1975. Its masts point skyward, with rigging and ropes tied to spars and lying on deck. Only taconite and other low-grade ores are now mined and enriched on site. 15. OK, we tried to keep it to just ten facts, but there were so many cool facts about this beautiful body of water we actually listed twenty. 3. The other was a more recent shipwreck. As of July 28, 2019, the Great Lakes have had 51 fatalities from . Lake Superior Journal: Building Skiffs, Crafting a Life, Around the Circle This Week: The 300 (Cyclists). They attempted to assist him but were forced to send him to the surface alone after he became unconscious. This feature makes the lake dimictic. Busy intersections are where most accidents happen.. The bodies sink and don't float. WENATCHEE A Lake Chelan area man faces five years in prison after entering a guilty plea to charges that he started a barn fire that injured two Chelan County Sheriff's Office deputies. [8] Its average depth is 80.5 fathoms (483ft; 147m) with a maximum depth of 222.17 fathoms (1,333ft; 406m). Extensive forests, which dominate the watershed, are held in federal, state, provincial, and private timberlands. [47], More than 80 species of fish have been found in Lake Superior. One fun fact about the area I discovered when visiting in the winter was that people have brightly colored balls or other items on their radio antennas to help their vehicle be seen above the snowdrifts. Although not in Minnesota waters, the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald is commemorated at Split Rock Lighthouse as a symbol of the lives lost from all Great Lakes shipwrecks. When I look back at Lake Superior water levels since 1918, those 87 months turn out to be the longest stretch where the monthly average water level was above the long-term . The Objibways said that the lake was protected by Nanabijou, Spirit of the Deep Sea Water, according to the University of Wisconsin. Water Quality Monitoring in the Lake Superior, Lake Superior LAMPS and Associated Reports, St. Louis River AOC - Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ecosystem Principles and Objectives, Indicators and Targets for Lake Superior, Great Lakes Restoration InitiativeGrants, Lake Superior Aquatic Invasive Species Complete Prevention Plan, Lake Superior Climate Change Impacts Report, Lake Superior Critical Chemical Reduction Reports, Lake Superior Strategic Outcomes and Ecosystem Goals, Lake Superior Binational Monitoring Workshop, Retention time = 191 years (a measure based on the volume of water in the lake and the mean rate of outflow). We hope this discovery helps contribute to an element of closure to the extended families of those lost on the Ironton, and the communities impacted by its loss, Ballard said. The Lake Mines 3 districts are: Portage Lake District; Keweenaw Point District; Ontonagon District; Including now the Marquette Iron Range Mines.. From 1855 to 1975 it is estimated there have been 2,000 mine related deaths for Keweenaw county, at . The water temperatures during the summer months average about 55 F, but surface temperatures reached a record 68.7 F (20.4 C) in August 2010 and are affected by the amount of surface ice during the previous winter. 8:40 The discovery of one of the oldest and, perhaps, unluckiest ships to sink off Lake Superior's Shipwreck Coast is being celebrated by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society. Isle Royale contains several lakes, some of which also contain islands. Mike Link Additional reporting by Alina Bradford, Live Science Contributor. This is a result of the underdeveloped soils found in its relatively small watershed. Valuable mineral deposits surround the lake. Konnie LeMay [7] The lake boasts a very small catchment to surface area ratio of 1.55, which indicates minimal terrestrial influence. Accidental introductions have occurred in part by the removal of natural barriers to navigation between the Great Lakes. Those lyrics got across so much of the mystery and danger found in the lake. Lake Superior is 350 miles (563 km) long (east to west), and its greatest width is 160 miles (258 km) from north to south. Blessed with fine golden sand and deep blue lake water, Sand Point Beach is a really popular location, with something appealing to everybody. Parry struggled aboard as the Hebard lowered a lifeboat with several of its crew. Lake Superior is, by surface area, the world's largest freshwater lake. According to other sources, the full Ojibwe name is Ojibwe Gichigami ("Ojibwe's Great Sea") or Anishinaabe Gichigami ("Anishinaabe's Great Sea"). By the early 1600s, the Ojibway people had established a village of several thousand on Madeline Island. Even for the Thunder Bay area, a perilous swath of northern Lake Huron off the Michigan coast that has devoured many a ship, the Ironton's fate seems particularly cruel. Much of the coastal area is sparsely settled. Pitz. [citation needed]. Best Western Plus Superior Inn108 E Highway 61 PO Box 456, Grand Marais, Minnesota 55604-3130 United States. The 191-foot (58-meter). We like to pick lake glass every time it storms. Duluth-Superior, at the western end of Lake Superior, is the most inland point on the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the most inland port in the world. Michigan One of my very favorite places to visit is The Jampot. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, Worldwide Numbers. Lloyd W. Krohn, 55, of Wyoming, Minnesota, was diving in a party of three on a charter SCUBA trip to the park operated by Isle Royale Charters, Inc. At approximately 11:00 am EDT, soon after descending to their target depth, his two partners noticed that Krohn was experiencing an unknown difficulty. The North West Company built forts on Lake Superior at Grand Portage, Fort William, Nipigon, the Pic River, the Michipicoten River, and Sault Ste. SIZE, DEPTH, WATERSHED, WATER QUALITY, etc. The 191-foot (58-meter) cargo vessel collided with a grain hauler on a blustery night in September 1894, sinking both. Lake Superior receives water from approximately 200 rivers, of which the largest are the Nipigon (from the north) and the St. Louis (from the west). (Image credit: ). The French Jesuit missionary Claude-Jean Allouez circumnavigated and charted the lake in 1667. They were bound for Marquette, a port city on Lake Superior. Rip currents take swimmers unaware (if youre brave enough to put a toe in the icy water!) 'Human skin' jackets available online for $720: 'Gory and Canadian teacher with size-Z prosthetic breasts placed on paid leave, What's next for Buster Murdaugh after dad's murder conviction, life sentence, Murdaugh son collapsed outside court after sitting stone-faced through dad's 6-week murder trial: source, Kelly Osbourne posts first photo of baby son as he hangs out with uncle Jack, Greys Anatomy alum Isaiah Washington retiring from acting: The haters have won, Madonna watches new boyfriend Joshua Poppers fight in New York City, Max Scherzer's first look at the new pitch clock, Kellyanne Conway and George Conway to divorce. Authorities worked to identify the dead and . She holds a bachelors degree in communications from Glassboro State College. 49300 surface area (sq mi) 1333 max. Lake Superior contains half of the water in all the Great Lakes. The people of the Terminal Woodland period were evident in the area from AD 900 to 1650. The Kamloops is considered an expert dive due to the depths involved; most of the wreck lies below 200 feet. Wisconsin The towns merge together and are situated on hills that look down on a charming riverside downtown. 4. These factsare in no particular order because they are all so interesting. LAKE SUPERIOR = 5. The largest island in Lake Superior is Isle Royale in Michigan. I had the sister of one of my protagonists trapped in a shipwreck with her air running out. The principal islands in the lake are Isle Royale, a U.S. national park; the Apostle Islands, near the Wisconsin shore; Michipicoten, on the east side; and St. Ignace, near the mouth of the Nipigon River (Canada). Please see our, Lake Superior Credit: Rob Stimpson, Lake Superior Credit: Rob Stimpson. I was privileged to visit the monastery, thanks to a friend, and Id love to go back and talk to the monks again. Kakabeka Falls, Ontario The 130-foot cascade of Kakabeka Falls (left) roars a short walk from an off-highway parking lot. Full Circle Superior A person adrift without a life raft stands little chance of survival. Creel survey clusters and stations in the 2021 Lake Superior summer creel survey 10 Table 2. Vessels cruised to and from Lake Huron and Lake Michigan through the nearby Straits of Mackinac. We'll leave it up to you as to which is number one! Beargrease The wreck was immortalized by Gordon Lightfoot in his ballad "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". There have been about 350 shipwrecks recorded in Lake Superior and Lake Superior is known to never give up her dead. Here is a smattering of my favorite books set along Lake Superior: A Cold Day in Paradise and other books in the Alex McKnight by Steve Hamilton. All boat traffic that leaves the lake for southern ports must pass through the Soo Locks at Sault Sainte Marie. Lake Superior is 350 miles (563 km) long (east to west), and its greatest width is 160 miles (258 km) from north to south. Because of its large size (relative to watershed area) and the porous "dam" at its outlet, long-term lake-level fluctuations are much lower than in any of the other Great Lakesgenerally less than 1 yard (1 metre). But Ill bet you knew that from reading The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in school. A New Way to Experience ATVs in the Winter. His setting is Sault Ste Marie, known as the Soo. There are bears and wolves in the area too. That day Reserve Mining Co. stopped dumping 67,000 tons a day of taconite tailings into Lake Superior. For comparison, the largest of the Great Lakes (Lake Superior) is only 25% as deep, with a maximum depth of 1,333ft (406m). In the late 1800s a small gold rush took place on its southern shore in Michigan. A ship approaches the Duluth Pier Lighthouse. They picked up the other two Ironton men. August 2021 was the first time since April 2014 that Lake Superior was at its long-term monthly average ( 183.54 cm) water level, ending 87 consecutive months above average. Lake Superior heats up much warmer than the water. The first people came to the Lake Superior region 10,000 years ago after the retreat of the glaciers in the Last Glacial Period. The first steamboat to run on the lake was the Independence in 1847, whereas the first steamers on the other Great Lakes began sailing in 1816. The retreat left gravel, sand, clay and boulder deposits. [29] Lake Superior's ice coverage further beat 2014's record in 2019, reaching 95% coverage.[30]. Theirfocus isthe entire Lake Superior ecosystem - air, land and water to restore degraded areas and protect this unique headwater lake for the people and wildlife that use it. And its surface area is about the same size as South Carolina. Lake Superior Regional News ~ Northwestern and Northeastern Ontario. There are so many fascinating things about Lake Superior that fuel the imagination. The Associated Press obtained details of the discovery ahead of the announcement. Sometimes winter Isnt long enough to experience all of the outdoor activities. The vast forests make things like that nearly impossible. Deadliest lakes in Texas Recently released state figures ranked Texas' deadliest lakes. The tragedy was memorialized by Gordon Lightfoot's classic folk song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.". Largest of the Great Lakes of North America, largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area, International Lake Superior Board of Control, Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, Great Storms of the North American Great Lakes, List of shipwrecks of western Lake Superior, Great Recycling and Northern Development Canal, "Global Land One-Kilometer Base Elevation (GLOBE) v.1", "Tunnel Valleys, Glacial Surges, and Subglacial Hydrology of the Superior Lobe, Minnesota", "Great Lakes: Basic Information: Physical Facts", Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, "Superior Pursuit: Facts About the Greatest Great Lake", "Global Warming Is Shrinking the Great Lakes", "Lake Superior Warming Faster than Surrounding Climate", "Extensive Great Lakes Ice Coverage to Limit Severe Weather, Pose Challenges to Shipping Industry", "After Achieving 95 Percent Coverage, Lake Superior's Ice Breaking Up", "Environmental Climatology of Lake Superior", "NOAA Technical Memorandum ERL GLERL-29: Evaporation from Lake Superior", Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, "Ontario Amethyst: Ontario's Mineral Emblem", "Century-Old Shipwreck Discovered: Ore Carrier Went Down in Lake Superior on Its Second Voyage", "Increasing Stoichiometric Imbalance in North America's Largest Lake: Nitrification in Lake Superior", "Great Lakes Sensitivity to Climatic Forcing: Hydrological Models", "Rockin' the Rift, The Billion-Year-Old Split that Made Us", Lake Superior NOAA nautical chart #14961 online, Parks Canada - Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area, Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers, Great Lakes Basin Soil Erosion and Sediment Control Program, Great LakesSaint Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lake_Superior&oldid=1138275251, Articles with incomplete citations from February 2020, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles using infobox body of water without alt, Articles using infobox body of water without alt bathymetry, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, 1,729mi (2,783km) plus 997mi (1,605km) for islands, This page was last edited on 8 February 2023, at 21:08. And you have to be wary of hitting moose on the road. 7. NY 10036. JavaScript appears to be disabled on this computer. They used snowshoes, birch bark canoes and conical or domed lodges. In gazing upon its surface, whether stretched out like a vast mirror, reflecting the varying tints of the sky, or ruffled by gently-curling waves, or lashed by the fury of the storm, the beholder is alike impressed with a feeling of the grand and the infinite." A favorite lunch is the ubiquitous pasty. Volume*: 2,900 cubic mi. The Upper Peninsula around Lake Superior is layered with interesting topics from environmental concerns to lighthouses to the Ojibwa, also known as Chippewa, culture and legends. Ive read all the Barrs Anna Pigeon novels, and this intriguing setting is Isle Royale National Park, a remote Superior island known for its deep water dives of shipwrecks. Reservations. The marine chart shows depth and hydrology of Lake Superior on the map, which is located in the Wisconsin, Michigan, Ontario state (Burnett, Rainy River District, Algoma District). 2. This variation in temperature makes the lake seasonally stratified. The Lake Superior Mine Fatalities (This project is intended to hold profiles of all the mining deaths that occurred in the Lake Superior District.). NPS photo "Lake Superior possesses all the sublimity of the ocean. Seasonal hunting, sportfishing, and tourism form the basis for an important regional recreation industry. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Lake Superior is a vast fresh water resource that has not experienced the same levels of development, urbanization and pollution as the other Great Lakes. The victim was declared deceased on scene by ranger-EMT's. Ojibwa natives called Lake Superior Gitche Gumee which means Big Sea Water. A blizzard can catch hikers unawares. The Great Lakes Circle Tour is a designated scenic road system connecting all of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.[31]. It has a maximum length of 350 miles (563 km) and maximum breadth of 160 miles (257 km). And the Netflix drama "Ozark," which has its own high body count, films . Other principal rivers entering the north shore are the Pigeon, Kaministikwia, Pic, White, and Michipicoten. (Though Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States and deeper than Lake Superior, Crater Lake's elevation is higher and consequently its deepest point is 4,229 feet (1,289m) above sea level. Ojibwa natives called Lake Superior Gitche Gumee which means Big Sea Water. And if you include the two deadliest late-October blows, the toll hits 875 (67%). Lidia Yuknavitch on Her Philosophy of Teaching, What Should You Read Next? ", 22. Two recent consecutive winters (20132014 and 20142015) brought high ice coverage to the Great Lakes, and on March 6, 2014, overall ice coverage peaked at 92.5%, the second-highest in recorded history. Keep up with the magazine, news and happenings around the Big Lake. There are so many fascinating things about Lake Superior that fuel the imagination. It has a surface area of 31,700 square miles (82,100 square km) and water volume of 2,900 cubic miles (12,100 cubic km). The Caspian Sea, while larger than Lake Superior in both surface area and volume, is brackish. 04/18/2019 - John Doe, M-64, The U.S. Coast Guard has recovered the body of a missing fisherman in Lake Superior. 109 W. Superior St. #200 Duluth, MN 55802 218-722-5002 edit@LakeSuperior.com. Lake Superior contains 10% of the planet'sfresh surface water. The average wind speeds have been increasing 5 percent each decade since 1980. The low water was a continuation of the dropping lake levels from the previous year, 1925, which set low-water records for October through December. Walk to waterfalls. Wolves During the nine-month period of October 1925 to June 1926, water levels ranged from 1.58 feet (0.48m) to 0.33 feet (0.10m) below Chart Datum. The Lake Superior area is well worthy of interest to novelists! Corrections? Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world in area and the third largest in volume, behind Lake Baikal in Siberia and Lake Tanganyika in East Africa. Of that toll, November claimed an estimated 725 (56%) of the deaths. Most of the Pukaskwa Pits were likely made during this time. 8. Hunters can step into the trees and never emerge. His descriptions of the great ships going through the locks fire the imagination, and I have to have a blanket when reading his novels because his descriptions of the cold plunge my body temperature! Magma was injected between layers of sedimentary rock, forming diabase sills. They are still much lower than levels considered dangerous to human health; but this steady, long-term rise is an unusual record of environmental nitrogen buildup.