As the quiet Indian Summer days of October fade into the dreary days of early November, the atmospheric circulation patterns change, as the temperature contrast between northern Canada and the Gulf Coast states intensifies. The first hint of winter descends upon the upper Midwest and Great Lakes. On occasion, this transition is not subtle, because an intense storm may travel through the area accompanied by strong winds, possibly heavy snow and abruptly colder conditions that follow the storm. While other regions of the country may also experience strong storms at this time of year, few evoke the same legends as those powerful systems that affect the Great Lakes states. To add to the mystique, several of these deadly winter-like storms have traveled along similar storm tracks and most have occurred during the first two weeks of November.
These intense early November storms develop primarily as the result of the strong temperature contrasts between the warm tropical air masses across the South and the cold air masses that make their initial invasions from Canada. In addition, the Great Lakes, now warmer than the air, can enhance storm activity, adding heat energy and moisture to the air. Several noteworthy cases are remembered because of their severity.
On 11 November 1911 a potent winter storm moved from the Plains states into the western Great Lakes, followed the invasion of a cold arctic air mass. The temperature contrasts across the cold front were dramatic - ranging from the upper 60's in northeastern Kansas to near zero in western Nebraska. Kansas City had a record high of 76 degrees on the morning of "11/11/11", but fell to a record low of 11 by midnight. The storm system that developed along this frontal boundary was responsible for a line of severe thunderstorms that moved through the mid Mississippi Valley. A community near Janesville, WI was hit by a tornado (later identified as F4 on the modern Fujita Scale) that killed 9 and injured 50. Within an hour of the tornado, the survivors were faced with blizzard conditions and temperatures near zero degrees.
Two years later, on the 9th and 10th of November 1913, a storm system, afterward referred to as the "Freshwater Fury", produced gale conditions on the Great Lakes. Eight ships were lost on Lake Huron, along with over 250 sailors. A total of 17 ships were sunk on the Lakes because of the storm. One storm system had moved eastward from the northern Plains and dissipated over Lake Superior, while a more intense storm moved northward from the Carolinas to Pennsylvania, where it turned to move toward the north-northwest into Canada, near Georgian Bay. Sustained winds of 62 mph were recorded at Port Huron, MI. As a result, monster waves developed on Lake Huron. Farther east, heavy snows fell, accumulating to 22 inches in Cleveland, OH, while 3 feet fell in West Virginia. Winds gusted to 80 mph at Buffalo, NY.
In November 1940, a powerful storm moved into the Pacific Northwest, with strong winds that caused the collapse of the newly opened Tacoma Narrows suspension bridge at Tacoma, WA on 7 November 1940. Afterward, the bridge was dubbed "Galloping Gertie" because of the wild oscillations of the bridge deck captured on newsreel (motion picture film) just before collapse. The storm moved into the mountainous West and "disappeared", but reemerged several days later as a potent storm on the lee slopes of the Rockies in southern Colorado. This storm system intensified as it moved eastward across the plains and then traveled northeastward up the Mississippi Valley toward the western Great Lakes. To residents of the area, this storm has become known as the infamous "Armistice Day Storm", as it moved through the region on 11 November, Armistice Day (now known as Veterans Day). As the storm passed over Duluth, MN, the sea level pressure fell to 971 mb, and winds gusted to over 60 mph. Heavy snow fell on the cold, northwest side of the storm, accumulating to more than 26 inches in Minnesota. Strong winds, coupled with the snow, reduced visibilities and caused blizzard conditions. At least 49 people died in Minnesota. Similar blizzard conditions were reported across Iowa, where many lives were lost, thousands of cattle perished and whole towns were isolated by huge snowdrifts. On the Lake Michigan, three freighters sank, with 59 sailors losing their lives.
Another infamous November storm that occurred in 1975 has been memorialized in a song by Gordon Lightfoot. During this storm, one of the largest ore carriers on the Great Lakes, the "Edmund Fitzgerald", sank on the eastern end of Lake Superior with the loss of its crew of 29 men and 26,000 tons of taconite pellets. This storm moved from southern Colorado on the morning of 8 November 1975 to Kansas and then to near Marquette, MI on the morning of 10 November 1975. At this time the central pressure was 982 mb, accompanied by gale force winds. Winds gusted to 71 mph at Sault Ste Marie, MI. As the storm, now becoming occluded, crossed Lake Superior during the afternoon of 10 November, it passed over the ill-fated "Edmund Fitzgerald". However, the shift in the winds from northeast to northwest doomed the ship later that evening. Because of the longer fetch presented to northwest winds, the waves on the lake became higher. Waves 12 to 16 feet in height were reported by a ship that was within several miles of the "Edmund Fitzgerald" when it foundered. By this time on Monday evening, the storm center had reached Moosonee, ON along the shores of James Bay. This storm also caused major erosion of beaches along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Additional information and maps are available at http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/wxwise/fitz.html.
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Prepared by Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2000, The American Meteorological Society.