Great Lakes Storm of 1913

Great Lakes Storm of 1913

A surface analysis map showing the convergence of two systems to form a typical November gale
Type	Extratropical cyclone Winter storm Blizzard
Formed	November 6, 1913
Dissipated	November 11, 1913
Highest gust	90 mph (145 km/h)
Lowest pressure	968.5[1][2] mb (28.60 inHg)
Areas affected	The Great Lakes Basin in the Midwestern United States and the Canadian province of Ontario

The Great Lakes Storm of 1913, historically referred to as the Big Blow,^[3][a] the Freshwater Fury and the White Hurricane, was a blizzard with hurricane-force winds that devastated the Great Lakes Basin in the Midwestern United States and Southwestern Ontario, Canada, between November 7 and 10, 1913. The storm was most powerful on November 9, battering and overturning ships on four of the five Great Lakes, particularly Lake Huron.

The storm was the deadliest and most destructive natural disaster to hit the Great Lakes in recorded history. More than 250 people were killed. Shipping was hard hit; nineteen ships were destroyed, and nineteen others were stranded. About US$1 million of cargo weighing about 68,300 tons—including coal, iron ore and grain—was lost. The storm impacted many cities, including Duluth, Minnesota; Chicago, Illinois; and Cleveland, Ohio, which received 22 in (56 cm) of snow combined with winds up to 79 mph (127 km/h) and was paralyzed for days.

The extratropical cyclone originated when two major storm fronts fueled by the Great Lakes' relatively warm waters—a seasonal process called a "November gale"—converged. It produced wind gusts of 90 mph (140 km/h), waves estimated at over 35 feet (11 m) high and whiteout snowsqualls. Winds exceeding hurricane-force occurred over four of the lakes for extended periods creating very large waves. The large size of the lakes provides wind fetches (the length of water over which a given wind has blown without obstruction) of hundreds of miles, allowing huge waves to form. Rogue waves are known to occur on the Great Lakes, including waves reinforced by reflections from the vertical shores of some of the lakes.

The United States Weather Bureau failed to predict the intensity of the storm, and the process of preparing and communicating predictions was slow. These factors contributed to the storm's destructiveness.^[4] The contemporaneous weather forecasters did not have enough data, communications, analysis capability and understanding of atmospheric dynamics to predict the storm. They could not predict wind directions, which is key to the ability of ships to avoid or cope with the effects of storms.

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