An ice cover with a broken track exists on Lake St Francis and Lake St Lawrence. The channel is open water from Hamilton Island to Snell and from Wilson Hill to above the American Narrows. Moderate ice cover exists from above the American Narrows to 5 kilometers West of Tibbetts Point. Navigation will be restricted to daylight hours until the commissioning of lighted aids has been completed. Mariners are warned to exercise extreme caution in the use of winter markers as the position of the markers may have been affected by ice.
Further information is available from the appropriate traffic control centres.
Icebreaker assistance is available in the Beauharnois Canal and Lake St Francis. It is extremely important that ships transiting through ice covered areas and around the ice booms in the Beauharnois canal proceed at the slowest safe speed in order not to disturb the ice fields. Because of ongoing work in this area, keep to the north of the channel. The Galop ice boom has been removed from the channel. The Welland Canal will open to navigation March 23 at 0800 hours.