The Sault Locks are closed for the winter. The official closing was midnight Friday. With open water, there will still be movement on the lower Great Lakes, but Mark Gill of the US Coast Guard, says it will slow down significantly in February.
“You’ll have a little bit of salt movement,” Gill said. “You have some iron ore moving between Escanaba and Detroit, and then we’ll have gasoline and diesel moving across the straits and to various locations.”
Ice cutting operations began this week on the lakes. Activity concentrated on the bay of Green Bay, St. Mary’s River, and Duluth. Gill says the start of the icebreaking “Operation Taconite” is a few weeks later than normal this year because of the lack of ice.
