The big storm predicted for April 10-12 hit Duluth as forecast, at least for the most part. The snow started a bit later than predicted and we only got about 5 or 6 inches of accumulation at our house (about 10 at the airport) but it was wet, heavy stuff. If the temp. had been lower and the snow fluffier, we probably would have gotten the 12-18 inches in the forecast.
The really spectacular part of the storm was the wind. Gusts up to 62mph were clocked at the airport. I heard that higher wind speeds were likely experienced in Canal Park but because the snow was sticking to the anemometers and freezing, the instruments were working only intermittently. Waves started building during the day on Thursday and by Saturday morning were 15+ feet. They were crashing over the piers in the ship canal and were close to touching the bridge deck of the
Aerial Lift Bridge. The vertical clearance on the bridge when down is 15 feet. If the waves were that high deep into the canal, they must have been something out at the end of the pier.
There are some cool videos of the storm driven waves available. The first shows an old, formerly submerged crib from a pier at the site it washed up last fall:
Storm waves hitting the crib at its original locationThe second shows the crib as it is arriving close to its current location The Duluth News Tribune has a good storm summary
here.
There is another little
article about the Crib in today's newspaper with yet another theory about the structure's origin. Look toward the bottom of the Eh? column.
To view the articles on the Duluth News Tribune you need to register at the site but the registration is free.
The photo today is of the crib where it ended up on the beach. It looks like it lost quite a few timbers as it got pounded by the storm.
NOAA satellites captured some cool pictures of the sediment plume stirred up by the storm. My guess is that this is more due to bank erosion rather than sediment coming out of rivers. It seems likely to me that the waves were high enough and lasted long enough to do some serious shoreline erosion. The amount of precipitation didn't seem to really raise the river levels enough or quickly enough to account for this much sediment. Here is a
link to the NOAA page with the images. Be aware that the individual images are fairly large.
State offices in St. Louis and Lake Counties were closed on Friday so I got to enjoy the storm without having to worry about trying to get into work. It was nice to have a 'snow day'. We even had the power go out for several hours on a few different occasions throughout the day. It was a good excuse to stay off the electronic stimulants.
Even though the snow day was fun, I'm ready for spring to finally arrive and the snow to melt away.
