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 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, 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. 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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"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot


The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down, of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee. The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead when the skies of November...

Many people are not aware that the song, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, by Gordon Lightfoot, is associated with a real life event. Even fewer people really know where he first got the idea to write the song The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. When Gordon Lightfoot first heard about the wreck, he did so through a news article in Newsweek, and as a commemoration to the wreck and to the men, Lightfoot composed a song. The song was released in 1976 and became a top ten hit!

Gordon Lightfoot usually is very protective of this song and the wishes of the family members and is in no way "for" exploiting the victims, or their family members. He has also appeared at several 25th anniversary memorial services in support of the families and is in personal contact with many of them. Every family member that we have interviewed on this website agrees that Lightfoot is "a good guy," "a genuine man," and even "blessed."

The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald
©1976 by Gordon Lightfoot and Moose Music, Ltd.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
of the big lake they called "Gitche Gumee."
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
when the skies of November turn gloomy.
With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty,
that good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
when the "Gales of November" came early.

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