Remembering the
November 1913 “White Hurricane”
Date Posted: November 7, 2013
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A total of nine ships and over 200 people
were lost during during the White Hurricane.
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Storms
along the Great Lakes have haunted sailors for more than a century and, in
fact, served as one of the motivating factors for the creation of a national
weather service when, in 1869, Rep. Halbert E. Paine of Wisconsin introduced a
bill that called for the establishment of a weather warning service under the
Secretary of War. From the storms of the 1860s to the fierce “November Witch”
that sank the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975, one Great Lakes storm stands
out as the deadliest.
Nicknamed
the “White Hurricane,” this major winter storm stuck the Great Lakes on
November 7-10, 1913, resulting in a dozen major shipwrecks, with an estimated
250 lives lost. It remains the largest inland maritime disaster, in terms of
number of ships lost, in U.S. history. This historic storm system brought
blizzard conditions with hurricane force winds to the Great Lakes. The unique
and powerful nature of the storm caught even the most seasoned captain by
surprise, as two low pressure centers merged and rapidly intensified over the
Lake Huron, with periods of storm-force winds occurring over a four day period.
Vessels at the time withstood 90 mph winds and 35 foot waves, but it was the
whiteout conditions and accumulation of ice on the ships that turned an already
dangerous situation into a deadly one, as ship captains were unable to maintain
navigation.
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Maritime
travel on the Great Lakes can become hazardous quickly, especially when the
infamous November gales blow. In 1913, Weather Bureau forecasters would send
gale warnings via telegraph to more than a hundred stations along the Great
Lakes shores, where volunteers would display flags and lanterns to warn sailors
of deteriorating conditions. These warnings were typically hoisted 12 to
24 hours in advance of a storm. For sailors leaving port, there was no means of
knowing the character of an approaching storm, and vessels beyond the sight of
land were unable to obtain any information. In the case of the White Hurricane,
Weather Bureau forecasters issued gale warnings on November 7. However, even
the forecasters were caught by surprise by the strength and longevity of the
powerful storm.
At
the time, weather forecasters did not have the luxury of computer models, nor
the detailed surface and upper-air observations, weather satellites, or radar
needed to make the most accurate predictions. Had forecaster then been
privy to today’s upper-air and land- and satellite-based observing systems,
they may have been able to determine the likely development of this type of
storm system well in advance, as they did with Superstorm Sandy in 2012. As
part of the forecast for Sandy NWS marine forecasters were able to predict
storm-force winds over the lower Great Lakes five days in advance. The great
technology and forecast models available to forecasters today led to a more
accurate forecast which saved mariners, recreational boaters, and businesses
countless dollars as they were able to make preparations in advance of Sandy’s
storm force winds and near 20-foot waves.
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One
hundred years later, NOAA in the Great Lakes is commemorating the Storm of 1913,
not only for the pivotal role it played in the history of the Great Lakes, but
also for its enduring influence. Modern systems of shipping
communication, weather prediction, and storm preparedness have all been
fundamentally shaped by the events of November 1913. NOAA has created a Centennial Anniversary Website
to remember the events of 1913 and highlight NOAA’s advances in technology and
services.
Using
historic Weather Bureau documents, combined with information from the Twentieth
Century Reanalysis Project (provided by NOAA’s Physical Sciences Division),
meteorologists at NWS Detroit, led by Science and Operations Officer Dr. Greg
Mann, were able to produce a model simulation of the
White Hurricane over the Great Lakes. Through this simulated storm
forecast, one can approximate what the wave and wind conditions were during the
storms peak. The results and analysis of the simulation are available in a special presentation produced
by NWS Detroit.
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“The
Storm of 1913 was one of the deadliest maritime weather disasters in North
American history,” said Meteorologist-in-Charge Richard Wagenmaker of NWS
Detroit. “Doing a unique numerical model retrospective allows incredible
insights, never before possible, into what happened to some of the largest and
newest ships in the Great Lakes fleet during that storm 100 years ago.”
The
simulation captured wind gusts over 80 mph and frequent waves to 36 feet on
southern and western Lake Huron on the evening of November 9, 1913 — a six-hour
period during which eight ships and 187 lives were lost.
“The
simulation appeared amazingly accurate considering limited observations for
model initial conditions,” Wagenmaker noted.
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