Correction: Corrected September 17, 2026: the water-level paragraph now reports the archived NOAA station observations and their limits. Unsupported navigation implications were withdrawn. NOAA measurement context.
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Check the AIS feeds at any hour this morning and you will find a VanEnkevort name at work somewhere in the system. Joyce L. VanEnkevort was last reported from Detour at 5:54 with a 9:32 ETA at the Soo Locks, running upbound. Dirk S. VanEnkevort had already cleared the Soo downbound, her passage logged there with a 20:52 ETA yesterday evening. Clyde S. VanEnkevort was upbound on the Detroit River, passing the Dossin Museum bend at 5:01 this morning with a 10:16 ETA at Port Huron.
Three vessels, three chokepoints, one family operation. Joyce L. approaching the locks from the St. Marys corridor. Dirk S. already through and moving south. Clyde S. working the lower lakes entirely, threading the river bends below Detroit while her fleet sisters were still in the upper system. Nothing in the data links them to a common port call or cargo; the geometry alone is the story.
WALTER J. McCARTHY was upbound on the St. Clair River, last logged near Crib Light at 4:14 this morning with an 8:02 ETA at Port Huron. She was running behind Clyde S. VanEnkevort in the same corridor.
HERBERT C. JACKSON was the main downbounder on the river, last reported off Harbor Beach at 5:33 with a 10:09 ETA at Port Huron and a 14:34 ETA through the Detroit River.
AT THE SOO, three vessels were downbound from the Keweenaw at last report: Algoma Niagara held an 11:11 ETA at the locks, Ontario Venture followed at 12:49, and Kaministiqua was last placed in the same corridor at 3:07 this morning with a 16:01 ETA.
AT THE WELLAND CANAL, St. Lawrence 2 cleared outbound through Port Weller at 5:29 this morning; Golden Banyan exited just after midnight; Mrs C was inbound at the same hour.
Archived NOAA station observations: Lake Superior, Sault Ste. Marie (NOAA station 9076027): 1.903 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-08-03 23:54 local standard time. Lake Michigan, Chicago (NOAA station 9087031): 2.126 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-08-03 23:54 local standard time. Lake Huron, Harbor Beach, MI (NOAA station 9075002): 2.192 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-08-03 23:54 local standard time. Lake Erie, Cleveland (NOAA station 9063053): 3.028 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-08-03 23:54 local standard time. Lake Ontario, Rochester, NY (NOAA station 9052030): 3.816 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-08-03 23:54 local standard time. These are individual gauge readings, not lake-wide averages or channel depths. They do not establish vessel clearance, cargo limits or comparative navigability.
A 29.8-inch trough is tracking across Superior today as a 29.4-inch low moves over Hudson Bay; 30.0-inch ridging returns Wednesday as high pressure builds from the northern Plains. Wave heights are running 2 feet on Superior, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, and 3 feet on Michigan. A cold front is forecast to cross Erie Thursday and Friday before stalling east of the lake. Today is calm on most of the system.
The Port Huron Marine Mart, a long-running gathering where buyers and sellers trade artifacts, photographs, books, and chinaware tied to Great Lakes maritime history, holds its annual session at American Legion Post 8 on Sixth Street. Admission runs five dollars, with an early-bird window at nine-thirty for ten dollars and free entry for children twelve and under. For a region where a freighter passing the seawall is still a reason to stop and look, these marts serve as the paper record of what watchers have been collecting since the steamboat era.