An autumn storm hit the Northland and brought strong winds, driving rain and some snow. The hardest hit area was the western end of Lake Superior, where winds gusting over 60 mph caused tremendous waves to crash on to shore. The crashing waves and storm surge, aided by an elevated water level of Lake Superior, caused considerable damage to Duluth���s Lakewalk and flooded Duluth���s Canal Park. Traffic was restricted when South Lake Avenue was flooded at the entrance to the aerial lift bridge. There was also major damage to Duluth���s Brighton Beach with damage to the road and major erosion to the shoreline as well as a tremendous amount of debris that was strewn across the park from the powerful waves. The high winds, heavy rain and strong storm surge also caused some county roads to flood along the north shore of Lake Superior and in downtown Grand Marais. Numerous trees and branches were blown down across the Northland, with the hardest hit areas along the north and south shore where winds were the strongest. Many areas lost power. The winds increased during the evening of October 9th with northeast wind gusts reaching over 30 mph. By morning winds gusts were near 50 mph at the Duluth Airport. The winds remained gusty in the 35 to 50 mph range all day and decreased to below 30 mph after 7:00 pm. Some highest wind gusts include 86 mph from the Canadian freighter Algowood off the north shore near Castle Danger, 64 mph and 20 foot waves from the Canadian ship the CSL Assinibione as it was anchored near Duluth, 55 mph in east Duluth, 52 mph at Glensheen Mansion and 46 mph at the Duluth Airport.  All of these highest gusts were recorded the morning of October 10th.  At 10 am on the 10th, the Areal Lift Bridge in Duluth���s Canal Park recorded a steady wind from 40 to 45 mph and 5 to 9 feet waves. Later that afternoon waves were 10 feet in the ship canal. The storm was caused by a strong low pressure area that developed in the Texas Panhandle on October 9th. By Wednesday, October 10th, the center of the low was over far southern Minnesota while high pressure as situated across much of Canada. Temperatures to the north of the low were in the 40s and south of the low they were in the 70s. This strong gradient in temperature and pressure helped create the strong northeast winds that blew across Lake Superior. The long fetch and the high Lake Superior water level contributed to the high waves and storm surge. Lake Superior levels were almost a foot higher than October normal. By Thursday, October 11th, the low���s center was over eastern Lake Superior which caused the winds to become northwesterly and calmed the Lake Superior waves.

Lakeshore Flood in SOUTHERN ST. LOUIS / CARLTON, MINNESOTA
From 09-OCT-18 17:00:00 to 10-OCT-18 18:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 18.40M
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Newspaper

Onshore waves and strong winds off of Lake Superior pummeled the shoreline around Duluth throwing rocks and upending concrete-based walkways. Portions of the the Duluth Lakewalk, Brighton Beach, Canal Park, and Park Point were damaged, many of which were damaged in last year's storm and had not yet been repaired. Flooding was seen in Canal Park and was also observed 8 miles upstream on the St. Louis River due to the winds and water pushing upstream. Damages in the city of Duluth alone to public infrastructure was estimated at $18.4 million.