Prompts winter weather advisories as cold air moves in Friday night

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There are just a few days left to visit the Lake Superior ice caves.

The National Park Service said today it will close the Apostle Island Sea Caves at the end of the day Sunday — or possibly sooner — because of rapidly changing ice conditions. 

Inside the majestic Apostle Island Sea Caves


Julie Van Stappen, chief of planning and resource management for the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, says falling ice is the biggest danger now, but the ice underfoot could give way at any time.

 
"The lake ice right by the caves is still fairly thick. It's a little over 20 inches," Van Stappen said. "But the biggest thing is, as soon as that ice surrounding the islands goes away, then the likelihood of winds acting on it and it deteriorating really quickly really increases."

Van Stappen says an estimated 124,000 people came to the Apostle Islands this winter to see the ice caves.

The last time it was cold enough to hike to the caves was in 2009.

Matt Sepic

Author

The National Park Service said today it will close the Apostle Island Sea Caves at the end of the day Sunday -- or possibly sooner -- because of rapidly changing ice conditions.

Lake Superior ice caves to close this weekend, or sooner

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