Polar Vortex Grips Great Lakes Shipping [PHOTOS]

With the so-called Polar Vortex funneling arctic air over a large portion of the U.S., historically low temps have made things very interesting on the inland waterways and coastal areas over the past week.  Surface ice, particularly on the Great Lakes, is expanding rapidly and making things difficult, if not impossible in some cases for maritime shippers.

Here’s a collection of photos sent in from our readers:

Mark Langdon shows the Great Lakes freeze with these shots taken in the St Mary’s River and Lime Island.

Brendan Groh sent in these pics from onboard the M/V Stewart J Cort in the lower St Mary’s River. That’s the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw providing assistance.

Below photos courtesy Kevin Graves in southern Lake Michigan.

Arnesh Misra sent in these photos from Lake Michigan.

Pics below from Aaron Menough, who has been stuck in ice in Lake Michigan for two days now.

The below photos were sent to us from Captain Daniel Franklin while operating on the Great Lakes between Green Bay, Wisconsin and Sault Ste. Marie between mid-December and 3 January 2014.

Green Bay:

Lower St. Mary’s River:

At the Soo Locks (Sault Ste Marie) :

Jeffrey Musk from Safety Management Systems LLC in Portland Maine sends us the following images of what happened when super cold air met the relatively warm (although super cold) waters along coast of Maine this week.

Do you have photos you’d like to share? Please email us at [email protected]

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