Great Lakes Storm of 1913

The Great Lakes Storm of 1913, historically referred to as the Big Blow, the Freshwater Fury, or the White Hurricane, was a four-day blizzard with hurricane-force winds that devastated the Great Lakes basin region from November 7 to November 10, 1913. The deadliest natural disaster to hit the lakes, it killed over 250 people, destroyed 19 ships, and forced 19 others to be stranded. Financial loss for vessels alone was nearly USD$5 million, or about USD$100 million in present-day adjusted dollars. The large loss of cargo, including coal, iron ore, and grain, meant rising prices for consumer products throughout the continent.

The storm originated as the convergence of two major storm fronts fueled by the lakes' relatively warm waters, a seasonal process historically called a "November gale". It produced 145 km/h (90 mph) winds, waves over 11m (35 feet) high, and whiteout snow squalls.

During autumn, cold, dry air moving south from northern Canada converges with warm, moist air moving north from the Gulf of Mexico, forming large storm systems in the middle of the continent. Several of these systems move along preferred paths toward the Great Lakes. When the cold air from these storms moves over the lakes, they are warmed by the waters below. This added heat postpones the arctic outbreak in the region, allowing the lakes to remain relatively warm for much longer.

In November, two storm tracks converge over the Great Lakes. One travels southwestward from the Alberta area. The other brings storms from the lee of the central Rockies northwestward toward the Great Lakes. This convergence is commonly referred to as a "November gale" or "November witch". When this cyclonic system moves over the lakes, its power is intensified by the jet stream above and the warm waters below. This allows the storm to maintain hurricane-force winds up to 160 km/h (100 mi/h), produce waves over 15 meters (50 ft) high, and dump several feet of snow and inches of rain. Fueled by the warm lake water, these powerful storms may remain over the Great Lakes for days. Intense winds then ravage the lakes and surrounding shores, severely eroding the shoreline, and flooding the coasts.

November gales have been a constant bane of the Great Lakes. At least 25 killer storms have ravaged the region since 1847. In that year, a major gale destroyed 77 ships. A 1905 storm on Lake Superior destroyed 111 ships and beached 14 steel carriers. The giant ore bulk carrier SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank suddenly, without a distress signal, during the November gale of 1975.

The storm was first noticed on Thursday, November 6, on the western side of Lake Superior, rapidly moving toward northern Lake Michigan. The weather forecast in The Detroit News called for "moderate to brisk" winds for the Great Lakes, with occasional rains Thursday night or Friday for the upper lakes (except on southern Lake Huron), and fair to unsettled conditions for the lower lakes.

Around midnight, the steamer Cornell, while 50 miles (80km) west of Whitefish Point in Lake Superior, ran into a sudden northerly gale, and was badly damaged. This gale would last until late Monday, November 10, almost forcing Cornell ashore. This would be the shape of things to come.

(see: US weather maps: November 5 map and November 6 map)

On Friday, the weather forecast in the Port Huron Times-Herald in Port Huron, Michigan described the storm as "moderately severe." By then, the storm was centered over the upper Mississippi Valley, and had caused moderate to brisk southerly winds with warmer weather over the lakes. The forecast predicted increased winds and falling temperatures over the next 24 hours.

At 10:00 am, weather bureau offices and Coast Guard stations at Lake Superior ports raised white pennants above square red flags with black centers, indicating a storm warning with northwesterly winds.

By late afternoon, the storm signal flags were replaced with a vertical sequence of red, white, and red lanterns, indicating that a hurricane with winds over 74 mph (119 km/h) was coming. The winds on Lake Superior had already reached 50 mph (80 km/h) and an accompanying blizzard was moving toward Lake Huron.

(see: US weather map for November 7)

By Saturday, the storm had been changed to "severe" status, and was centered over eastern Lake Superior, covering the entire lake basin. The weather forecast from the Port Huron Times-Herald stated that southerly winds had remained "moderate to brisk". Northwesterly winds had reached gale status on northern Lake Michigan and western Superior, with winds up to 97 km/h (60 mph) at Duluth, Minnesota.

That morning, the Assistant Engineer of the carrier Charles S. Price, Milton Smith, looked at the weather forecast in Cleveland, and decided not to join the crew on their voyage. For the past few days, Smith had felt uneasy about this trip. He tried to talk his friend and neighbor, wheelsman Arz McIntosh, into leaving with him, but McIntosh claimed that he needed the money. Bert L. Reynolds of Cleveland was hired to replace Smith before Price departed from Ashtabula, Ohio.

There was a false lull in the storm, allowing traffic to begin flowing again, both down the St. Marys River and up Lake Erie, Detroit and St. Clair rivers, into Lake Huron. The gale wind flags raised at over a hundred ports were ignored. Long ships traveled all that day through the St. Marys River, all night through the Straits of Mackinac, and early Sunday morning up the Detroit and St. Clair rivers.

(see: US weather map for November 8)

By noon on Sunday, weather conditions on lower Lake Huron were relatively normal for a November gale. Barometric pressures in some areas actually began to rise, bringing hope of an end to the storm. The low pressure area which had moved across Lake Superior was moving northeast, away from the lakes.

The Weather Bureau had sent out its bidaily reports at approximately 8:00am, and wouldn't send another set of reports to Washington, D.C. till around 8:00pm. This proved to be gravely unfortunate for the Great Lakes region, as the storm would have the better part of a day to build up hurricane forces before the Bureau headquarters in Washington would have detailed information.

Along southeastern Lake Erie, near the city of Erie, a southern low pressure area was moving toward the lake. This low had appeared overnight, and so was absent from Friday's weather map. It had been traveling northward, and began moving northwestward after passing over Washington, D.C. The intense counterclockwise rotation of the low was made apparent by the changing wind directions around its center. In Buffalo, morning northwest winds had shifted to northeast by noon, and were blowing southeast by 5:00pm, with the fastest gusts, 80mph (130km/h), occurring between 1:00pm and 2:00pm. Just 180 miles (290km) to the southwest, in Cleveland, building winds remained northwest during the day, shifting to the west by 5:00pm, and maintaining speeds over 50mph (80km/h). The fastest gust in Cleveland, 79mph (127km/h), occurred at 4:40pm. Also of note is the dramatic drop in barometric pressure in Buffalo, from 29.52 inHg (99.97 kPa) at 8:00am to 28.77 inHg (97.43 kPa) at 8:00pm.

The rotating low continued along its northward path into the evening, bringing its counterclockwise winds in phase with the northwesterly winds already hitting Lakes Superior and Huron. This resulted in an explosive increase in northerly wind speeds and swirling snow. Ships on Lake Huron that were south of Alpena, Michigan, especially around Harbor Beach and Port Huron, Michigan and Goderich and Sarnia, Ontario, were battered with huge waves moving southward toward St. Clair River.

From 8:00pm to midnight, the storm became what modern meteorologists call a "weather bomb". Sustained hurricane-speed winds over 70mph (110km/h) ravaged the four northern lakes. The worst damage was done down Lake Huron as numerous ships scrambled for shelter along its southern end. Gusts of 90mph (140km/h) were reported off Harbor Beach, Michigan. The lake's shape allowed northerly winds to increase unchecked, due to the lower surface friction of water compared to land, and the ability of wind to guide itself down the long axis of a body of water.

In retrospect, weather forecasters of the time did not have enough data or understanding of atmospheric dynamics to predict or comprehend the events of Sunday, November 9. Frontal mechanisms, referred to then as "squall lines", were not yet understood. Surface observations were collected only twice daily at various stations around the country, and by the time this data was collected and hand-drawn maps were created, the information was already hours behind actual weather conditions.

On Monday morning, the storm had moved northeast of London, Ontario, dragging lake effect blizzards in its wake. An additional 17 inches (43cm) of snow were dumped on Cleveland that day, filling the streets with snow drifts 6 feet (2m) high. Streetcar operators stayed with their stranded, powerless vehicles for two nights, eating whatever food was provided by local residents. Travelers were forced to take shelter and wait for things to clear up.

(see: US weather map for November 10)

Historically, storms of such magnitude and with such high velocities haven't lasted more than four or five hours. This storm, however, raged at an average speed of 60mph (70km/h) for over sixteen hours, with frequent bursts of over 70mph (110km/h). It crippled traffic on the lakes and throughout the Great Lakes basin region.

Along the shoreline, blizzards shut down traffic and communication, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. A 22 inch (56cm) snowfall in Cleveland put stores out of business for two days. There were four-foot (122cm) drifts around Lake Huron. Power was out for several days across Michigan and Ontario, cutting off telephone and telegraph communications. A Chicago park project, eight years in the making, was destroyed in as many hours.

After the final blizzards hit Cleveland, the city was paralyzed under feet of snow and ice, without power for days. Telephone poles had been snapped like twigs, and power cables lay in tangled masses. From the Plain Dealer:

"Cleveland lay in white and mighty solitude, mute and deaf to the outside world, a city of lonesome snowiness, storm-swept from end to end, when the violence of the two-day blizzard lessened late yesterday afternoon." — Tuesday, November 11, 1913

"Take it all in all—the depth of the snowfall, the tremendous wind, the amount of damage done and the total unpreparedness of the people—I think it is safe to say that the present storm is the worst experienced in Cleveland during the whole forty-three years the Weather Bureau has been established in the city." — William H. Alexander, Tuesday, November 11, 1913

The greatest damage was done on the lakes. Major shipwrecks occurred on all but Lake Ontario, with most happening throughout southern and western Lake Huron.

Personal accounts of lake masters were that waves reached at least 35ft (11m) in height. Being shorter in length than waves ordinarily formed by gales, they occurred in rapid succession, with three waves frequently striking one after the other. Masters have also stated that the wind often blew in directions opposite to the waves below. This would indicate that the storm exhibited cyclonic motion, something rarely seen on the Great Lakes.

In the late afternoon of November 10th, an unknown vessel was spotted floating upside-down in about sixty feet of water on the eastern coast of Michigan, within sight of Huronia Beach and the mouth of St. Clair River. Determing the identity of this ship became of regional interest, resulting in front page newspaper articles daily. The ship eventually sank to the bottom, and it wasn't until early Saturday morning, November 15th, that it was finally identified as Charles S. Price. The front page of that day's Port Huron Times-Herald extra edition read, "BOAT IS PRICE - DIVER IS BAKER - SECRET KNOWN". Milton Smith, the assistant engineer who decided at the last moment not to join his crew on premonition of disaster, aided in identifying any bodies that were found.

The final tally of financial losses included USD$2,332,000 for vessels totally lost, USD$830,900 for vessels that became constructive total losses, USD$620,000 for vessels stranded but returned to service, and approximately USD$1,000,000 in lost cargoes. This does not include financial losses along the coasts.

There were several long-term consequences of the storm. Complaints against the USDA Weather Bureau of alleged unpreparedness resulted in increased efforts to achieve better weather forecasting and faster realization and communication of storm warnings. Criticism of the shipping companies and shipbuilders led to a series of conferences with insurers and mariners to seek safer designs for vessels. This resulted in the construction of ships with greater stability and more longitudinal strength.

Of the twelve ships that sank in the storm, five have never been found: the barge Plymouth, Henry B. Smith, Leafield, James C. Carruthers, and Hydrus. The most recent discovery was that of Wexford in the summer of 2000.

Ships Foundered
Ship	Gross Tonnage	Approx. Location	Damage Value $	Lives Lost
Lake Superior
Leafield	2,900	Angus Island	100,000	18
Henry B. Smith	10,000	Marquette, Michigan	350,000	23
Lake Michigan
Plymouth (Barge)	600	Gull Island	5,000	7
Lake Huron
Argus	7,000	Point Aux Barques	136,000	28
James Carruthers	9,500	Goderich, Ontario	410,000	22
Hydrus	7,000	Goderich, Ontario	136,000	25
John A. McGean	7,500	Sturgeon Point, Michigan	240,000	28
Charles S. Price	9,000	Port Huron, Michigan	340,000	28
Regina	3,000	Harbor Beach, Michigan	125,000	20
Isaac M. Scott	9,000	Sturgeon Point, Michigan	340,000	28
Wexford	2,800	Port Franks, Ontario	125,000	20
Lake Erie
Lightship 82	n/a	Buffalo, New York	25,000	6
TOTALS	68,300 1		2,207,000	253 2
1. The Lake Carriers Association claimed 69,100 tons of shipping lost, but included Donaldson, which was without loss of life, and C.W. Elphicke, which went ashore prior to the storm. 2. Total doesn't include the 3 people lost on the steamer Nottingham, or unknown others lost on boats or by other means
Ships Stranded
Ship	Gross Tonnage	Approx. Location	Damage Value $	Notes
Lake Superior
F.G. Hartwell	unknown	Point Iroquois	30,000	rebuilt
Huronic	unknown	Whitefish Point	30,000
J.T. Hutchinson	unknown	Point Iroquois	40,000
Major	1,864	Crisp Point, Michigan	unknown	rebuilt
William Nottingham	unknown	Apostle Islands	75,000	3 men lost
Scottish Hero	unknown	unknown	500
Turret Chief	1,881	Copper Harbor, Michigan	unknown	rebuilt 1914 as Salvor
L.C. Waldo	4,466	Gull Island, Michigan	unknown	rebuilt 1916 as Riverton
St. Marys River
Meaford	unknown		500
Lake Michigan
Halstead (Barge)	496	Green Bay	unknown
Louisiana	1,929	Death's Door
Pontiac	unknown	Simmon's Reef	7,500
Lake Huron
Acadian	unknown	Thunder Bay	30,000
Matthew Andrews	unknown	Corsica Shoal	2,500	refloated
H.M. Hanna Jr.	5,905	Port Austin, Michigan		rebuilt 1916
H.A. Hawgood	unknown	Weis Beach	7,000	refloated
J.M. Jenks	unknown	Georgian Bay	25,000
Matoa	2,311	Point Aux Barques	117,000	total loss
D.O. Mills	unknown	Harbor Beach, Michigan	45,000	refloated
Northern Queen	unknown	Kettle Point 44, Ontario	25,000
A.E. Stewart	unknown	Thunder Bay	30,000	refloated
St. Clair & Detroit Rivers
W.G. Pollock	unknown	St. Clair Flats	5,000
Saxona	unknown	Lake St. Clair	1,500
Victory	unknown	Livingston Channel	12,000
Lake Erie
Donaldson (Barge)	unknown	Cleveland, Ohio	800
C.W. Elphicke 1	unknown	unknown	Long Point, Ontario
Fulton	unknown	Bar Point	2,500
G.J. Grammer	unknown	Lorain, Ohio	1,500	refloated
Pittsburgh Steamship    Co. Barges	unknown	Cleveland, Ohio	100,000	unmanned
1. The steamer C.W. Elphicke had gone aground before the storm, but was destroyed by the gale before it could be salvaged.

"Erie, and Ontario, and Huron, and Superior, and Michigan,- possess an ocean-like expansiveness, with many of the ocean's noblest traits...they are swept by Borean and dismasting blasts as direful as any that lash the salted wave; they know what shipwrecks are, for out of sight of land, however inland, they have drowned full many a midnight ship with all its shrieking crew." — Herman Melville, Moby Dick

"The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down / Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee / Superior, they say, never gives up her dead / When the gales of November come early." — Gordon Lightfoot, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

"No lake master can recall in all his experience a storm of such unprecedented violence with such rapid changes in the direction of the wind and its gusts of such fearful speed... It was unusual and unprecedented and it may be centuries before such a combination of forces may be experienced again." — excerpt from Lake Carriers' Association report, 1913

• Brown, David G. (2002). White Hurricane. International Marine / McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-138037-X.
• Hemming, Robert J. (1992). Ships Gone Missing: The Great Lakes Storm of 1913. Chicago: Contemporary Books, Inc. ISBN 0-8092-3909-4.
• Ratigan, William (1987). Great Lakes Shipwrecks and Survivals. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. ISBN 0-8028-7010-4.
• Shipley, Robert and Fred Addis (1992). Wrecks and Disasters: Great Lakes Album Series. St. Catharines, Ontario: Vanwell Publishing Limited. ISBN 0-920277-77-2.
• The Port Huron Times-Herald (Nov. 1913). various dates and pages.
• "The Great Storm of 1913: Vessels Totally Destroyed" (PDF). Newsletter, Winter 2003, Save Ontario Shipwrecks, Inc. February 2. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
• "The Great Lakes: Storm Breeding Ground". Science of the Sky, Suite University. February 2. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
• "Isaac M. Scott". Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve. February 10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)

• List of victims of the 1913 Great Lakes storm

• The night 12 ships vanished on the Great Lakes, article in the Detroit News.
• Hell Hath' No Fury Like a Great Lakes Fall Storm
• The Great Storm of 1913, includes numerous articles transcripted from November 1913 issues of the Port Huron Times-Herald.
• A first-person account of the storm, from a 1914 article in the Marine Review
• Personal experiences of Captains of the Lake Fleet
• Photos of various discovered shipwrecks
• Article from the Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse Society
• The Wexford: Elusive Shipwreck of the 1913 Great Storm
• Wisconsin's Great Lakes Shipwrecks: Louisiana
• Famous Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes
• The Great Blizzard of 1978, details the cause of the November gale.
• Great Lakes History and Shipwreck Directory
• Photographs of Cleveland after the blizzard
• Other Cleveland blizzard photos
• Numerous paintings of ships that were wrecked in the storm
• Directory of shipwreck locations with GPS and depth data