page_title: Great Lakes Storm of 1913
section_title: November 8
hierarchical_section_title: Great Lakes Storm of 1913 / Storm / November 8
context_page_description: The Great Lakes Storm of 1913, historically referred to as the "Big Blow," the "Freshwater Fury," or the "White Hurricane," was a blizzard with hurricane-force winds that devastated the Great Lakes Basin in the Midwestern United States and Ontario, Canada from November 7 through November 10, 1913. The storm was most powerful on November 9, battering and overturning ships on four of the five Great Lakes, particularly Lake Huron. Deceptive lulls in the storm and the slow pace of weather reports contributed to the storm's destructiveness.
  The deadliest and most destructive natural disaster to hit the lakes in recorded history, the Great Lakes Storm killed more than 250 people, destroyed 19 ships, and stranded 19 others. The financial loss in vessels alone was nearly US $5 million. This included about $1 million at current value in lost cargo totalling about 68,300 tons, such as coal, iron ore, and grain.
  The storm, an extratropical cyclone, originated as the convergence of two major storm fronts, fueled by the lakes' relatively warm waters—a seasonal process called a "November gale". It produced 90 mph wind gusts, waves over 35 feet high, and whiteout snowsqualls.
context_section_description: By Saturday, the storm's status had been upgraded to "severe". The storm was centered over eastern Lake Superior, covering the entire lake basin. The weather forecast of the Port Huron Times-Herald stated that southerly winds had remained "moderate to brisk". Northwesterly winds had reached gale strength on northern Lake Michigan and western Lake Superior, with winds of up to 60 mph (97 km/h) at Duluth, Minnesota.
  A false lull in the storm (a "sucker hole") allowed traffic to begin flowing again, both down the St. Marys River and up Lake Erie, and the Detroit and St. Clair rivers, into Lake Huron. Gale wind flags were raised at more than a hundred ports, but were ignored by many ship captains. 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.
caption: A wave breaking on the shore of Lake Michigan in Chicago while a man watches from a bridge
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