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 Unsupported navigation implications were withdrawn.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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The downbound board at Sault Ste. Marie today reads like a domestic run until the last name on the list.
Walter J. McCarthy arrives first, AIS putting her at the locks by 12:38 p.m., last fixed at 11:02 p.m. Friday after running the Keweenaw through the night. Whitefish Bay follows ninety minutes later, ETA 1:51 p.m., last reported at 1:03 a.m. Saturday. Then, at 3:50 p.m., comes Humbergracht, a foreign-flag vessel last logged at 2:14 a.m., still with the better part of the Keweenaw transit ahead of her when most lock-watchers were asleep.
Those three ETAs stack a Saturday afternoon worth attending. McCarthy and Whitefish Bay are familiar names on this corridor; Humbergracht is not. Salties running the upper lake on a September Saturday are not a daily occurrence, and she closes the downbound sequence when the light is still good enough to read her stack.
From the upbound side, BBC Leer was due in from Detour by 6:30 a.m., last reported at 2:33 a.m. Joseph L. Block followed at an 8:35 a.m. ETA. John G. Munson had already cleared just before 1 a.m., giving the Soo a full card across the early hours.
Joyce L. VanEnkevort, not to be confused with the Clyde S. VanEnkevort we tracked through Monroe on Wednesday, was upbound in the St. Clair River early this morning, last fixed near Grassy Island at 12:32 a.m. with a Port Huron ETA of 6:59 a.m.
American Integrity is running downbound on Lake Huron, last reported near Harbor Beach at 3:26 a.m. Saturday with a Port Huron ETA of 8:12 a.m. Robert S. Pierson is roughly four hours behind her on the same water, due at Port Huron around 12:54 p.m.
At Duluth, Algoma Endeavour cleared the Superior Entry outbound, last reported at 4:38 a.m. Saturday. CSL Laurentien was inbound at the same entry, last reported at 12:38 a.m.
In the Welland Canal, Thunder Bay cleared Port Weller outbound at 3:50 a.m. and Sea Eagle II followed at 4:59 a.m., both now into Lake Ontario.
Archived NOAA station observations: Lake Superior, Sault Ste. Marie (NOAA station 9076027): 1.624 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-09-04 23:54 local standard time. Lake Michigan, Chicago (NOAA station 9087031): 2.165 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-09-04 23:54 local standard time. Lake Huron, Harbor Beach, MI (NOAA station 9075002): 1.9 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-09-04 23:54 local standard time. Lake Erie, Cleveland (NOAA station 9063053): 3.196 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-09-04 23:54 local standard time. Lake Ontario, Rochester, NY (NOAA station 9052030): 3.31 feet relative to local Low Water Datum, observed 2026-09-04 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.
High pressure building to 30.1 inches over Lake Superior through this afternoon holds through Sunday night, with a brief further ridge to 30.2 inches Monday. Waves are running one foot on Superior. Lake Huron is seeing cooler northeast flow under an Ontario high, with calmer conditions expected Sunday into Monday; waves two feet. A cold front has moved south of Lake Erie, high pressure at 30.20 inches filling in steadily; one-foot waves. Fog is possible over central and southern Lake Michigan after the frontal passage; one-foot waves there as well. Lake Ontario waves at two feet under a 30.1-inch ridge building from the north.
One hundred years ago this November, the steamer City of Bangor grounded on a reef near Copper Harbor carrying new automobiles from Detroit, a cargo unusual enough to make the subsequent salvage famous. The Keweenaw Historical Society recently marked the centennial by receiving a painting from Upper Peninsula artist Clyde Mikkola depicting the wreck and the car recovery. The automobiles came off. The ship did not. Eagle Harbor still keeps the wreck on its list of local landmarks worth knowing before you anchor.