Superior Wisconsin Webcam – Watch Twin Ports Freighters

The Superior Wisconsin Webcam looks out from the roof of the AMI building at the tip of Connors Point, across the shipping channel to the Duluth Port Terminal on Rice’s Point. A tall concrete silo rises over the terminal sheds, stacked shipping containers line the dock to its right, and the Duluth hillside climbs behind everything. The water in front is the East Gate Basin, where lake freighters often swing through 180 degrees before or after threading the narrows under the Blatnik Bridge, which stands just west of the frame. Two tabs add the Fairlawn Cam, looking east from a mansion turret over Barker’s Island and the SS Meteor, and the Wisconsin Point Cam on the Superior Entry to Lake Superior.

About Superior, Wisconsin

Superior is the seat of Douglas County and the Wisconsin half of the Twin Ports, with Duluth, Minnesota, across the bay. It counted 26,751 residents at the 2020 census and became a city on March 25, 1889. Together the two cities run the largest port on the Great Lakes. The Blatnik Bridge, opened in 1961, carries Interstate 535 and US 53 for 2,431 meters (7,975 feet) from Connors Point to Rice’s Point, climbing to nearly 37 meters (120 feet) above the water so freighters can pass underneath. It replaced a swinging toll bridge, and the remains of that Old Interstate Bridge now serve as a public fishing and observation pier at the end of Rice’s Point, across the channel north of the camera.

The camera, donated to Duluth Harbor Cam by a sailor who worked the Great Lakes freighters in the early 1970s, sits on the offices of AMI Consulting Engineers, a firm that designs ports and harbors. The terminal across the water handles general cargo and cement powder and berths the harbor tugs. A March 2022 frame shows the camera aimed further west, with the bridge arching across the picture, so the framing does change.

The Fairlawn Cam sits in the tower of Fairlawn Mansion, a 42-room, four-story Queen Anne house completed in 1891 for Martin Pattison, a lumber baron and three-time mayor of Superior. From 1920 to 1962 it was a children’s home for about 2,000 children. East of the turret, across the highway and a lagoon, lies Barker’s Island and the SS Meteor, built in 1896 at the American Steel Barge Company yard in Superior as the Frank Rockefeller. At 116 meters (380 feet), she is the sole surviving ship of the whaleback design and has been a museum ship here since 1971. The Wisconsin Point Cam faces the Superior Entry, the harbor’s natural opening, where the Wisconsin Point Light has stood on the south breakwater since 1913. Its 17-meter (56-foot) concrete tower rises from a square keeper’s house with a red roof.

Weather and Climate in Superior, Wisconsin

January averages a high of minus 5 C (23 F) and a low of minus 15 C (6 F) in the 1991 to 2020 normals, and about 142 centimeters (56 inches) of snow falls in a typical year. Ice can close over the harbor in late winter: that March 2022 frame shows the basin white from shore to shore, with the bridge piers standing in the ice. Spring arrives slowly, with April highs around 8 C (46 F) and nights close to freezing at 0 C (32 F).

Summer is mild. July averages 24.5 C (76 F) by day and 14 C (58 F) at night. October cools to highs of 12 C (53 F) and lows of 4 C (39 F), and early in the month the trees along the Barker’s Island shore turn yellow and orange in the Fairlawn Cam’s view. On a clear autumn morning the low sun lights the white walls of the Wisconsin Point lighthouse.

Things to Do Near Superior, Wisconsin

Barker’s Island, the centerpiece of the Fairlawn Cam’s view, holds the SS Meteor, on display as a museum ship. Fairlawn Mansion stands across the highway at 906 East Second Street. Superior Public Museums runs it as a house museum, and the principal rooms are finished in quarter-sawn oak, cherry, bird’s-eye maple and Guatemalan mahogany.

Wisconsin Point runs about 4.8 kilometers (3 miles) and covers 229 acres (93 hectares). With Minnesota Point on the Duluth side, it forms a sandbar about 16 kilometers (10 miles) long that is reputedly the longest freshwater sandbar in the world, cut in two by the Superior Entry, with the lighthouse standing at the gap. In town, the Superior Municipal Forest in Billings Park is the third largest municipal forest in the United States. For a closer look at freighters turning in the East Gate Basin, the Old Interstate Bridge pier on Rice’s Point sits just across the channel from the camera.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

More cameras on Lake Superior and around Wisconsin:

• Duluth Canal Webcam
• Bayfield Webcam
• Sheboygan Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

What can you see on the Superior Wisconsin Webcam?

The main camera looks north from Connors Point across the East Gate Basin to the Duluth Port Terminal and the Duluth hillside. The Fairlawn tab shows Barker’s Island and the SS Meteor, and the Wisconsin Point tab shows the Superior Entry and its lighthouse.

Does the Superior Wisconsin Webcam show the Blatnik Bridge?

Not in its current framing. The camera stands at the Superior end of the bridge but points north across the channel at the port terminal, so the bridge is just out of shot to the west. Earlier settings of the same camera framed the bridge itself.

Where is Superior, Wisconsin, and how far is it from Duluth?

Superior is in the far northwest of Wisconsin, at the western end of Lake Superior. Duluth, Minnesota, lies directly across the bay. The Blatnik Bridge links the two cities, and the Bong Bridge crosses the St. Louis River farther west.

What county is Superior, Wisconsin in?

Superior is in Douglas County and is the county seat.

What is the population of Superior, Wisconsin?

The 2020 census counted 26,751 people in Superior. With Duluth across the bay, it makes up the Twin Ports, and together the two cities share the largest port on the Great Lakes.

What is the weather like in Superior, Wisconsin?

January highs average minus 5 C (23 F), July highs 24.5 C (76 F), and about 142 centimeters (56 inches) of snow falls in a typical year. Ice, snow and waves all show up on the cameras, which makes them a quick check on conditions right now.

What is on Barker’s Island in Superior, WI?

Barker’s Island is home to the SS Meteor, the last whaleback ship, a museum there since 1971. The Fairlawn Cam looks straight across the island from the mansion turret, taking in the Meteor, the waterfront buildings and the moored boats.

Why does the Wisconsin Point camera go blank when a ship passes?

Large boats are taller than the pole that carries the camera’s antenna. Once a ship’s bow enters the canal, the signal drops out until the ship has passed the camera, and then the picture comes back on its own.

Source: Duluth Harbor Cam