Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario cascades of the St. Mary's River descend more than from the level of Lake Superior to the level of the lower lakes. Hundreds of years ago, this slowed shipping traffic, requiring an overland portage of boats and cargo from one lake to the other. The entire name translates to "Saint Mary's Rapids" or "Saint Mary's Falls". The word "sault" is pronounced in French, and in the English pronunciation of the city name. Residents of the city are called "Saultites". Sault Ste. Marie is bordered to the east by the Rankin and Garden River First Nation reserves, and to the west
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan snow a year, with a record year when fell. of snow fell in one five-day snowstorm, including in 24 hours, in December 1995. Over the winter of 2015, Sault Ste. Marie received 158.7 inches of snow, ranking it the most snowfall measured in the nation that year. Sault Ste. Marie receives an average annual of precipitation measured as equivalent rainfall. Its immediate region is also the cloudiest in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, having over 200 cloudy days a year. Temperatures in Sault Ste. Marie have varied between a record low of and a record high of . Monthly average temperatures range