The Mataafa Storm of 1905 is the name of a storm that occurred on the Great Lakes on November 27–28, 1905. The system moved across the Great Basin with moderate depth on November 26 and November 27, then east-northeastward across the Great Lakes on November 28. Fresh east winds were forecast for the Great Lakes for the afternoon and evening of November 27, with storm warnings were in effect by the morning of November 28. Storm-force winds and heavy snows accompanied the cyclone's passage. The storm, named after the Mataafa wreck, ended up destroying or damaging about 29 vessels, killing 36 seamen and causing shipping losses of $3.567 million (1905 dollars) on Lake Superior.
The Big Storm (1913).
In 1913, from the ninth of November through the twelfth, all five lakes were turned into cauldrons of rolling water by a unique combination of weather patterns. Before the four days ended, 13 ships went under and many more were driven ashore. Two hundred forty-four men lost their lives. The largest loss of ships was on Lake Huron (see Shipwrecks of Lake Huron)
1 (actual number of lives lost on "Wexford" uncertain) 17 to 24 victims reported
Black Friday (1916).
Friday, October 20, 1916 on Lake Erie. These were the years before there was ship to shore radio. Once out on the lakes, each ship had only itself to depend upon and the chance of meeting another ship. While only four ships were lost, nearly all the men of these crews were lost to the tempest of the storm-tossed lake. In all, Black Friday took the lives of 49 men.
The "James B. Colgate" had just finished loading coal and set sail from Buffalo, New York bound for Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay). It was 1:10 in the morning as the "Colgate" dropped its hawsers and headed out into the open lake. Dawn found the "Colgate" off Long Point. All day they moved steadily westward, keeping the bow into the wind, waves crashing over the decks and beating on the hatch coverings. Slowing, water began to enter the cargo holds. The pumps could not keep up with the influx of water and she began to list at about eight o'clock that evening. No other ships had been seen and none could be found. The bow was riding low in the water. As the ten o'clock hour came around, the "Colgate" slid beneath the waves. The men all had life jackets, but nothing was floating which would help them get out of the cold water. One life raft was found and a coal passer, the engineer and the captain took refuge. In the middle of the night, the raft was flipped and the coal passer did not return. As the 21st dawned, the raft again spilled its occupants and the engineer returned but was too weak to hold on and he was lost. Night came on and Captain Walter J. Grashaw still hung on to the raft. A passenger steamer passed nearby, but he was unnoticed in the dark. As daylight dawned on the 22nd, Sunday, the Marquette & Bessemer No. 2 (II) came to his rescue.
"Marshall F. Butters", a wooden lumber carrier down bound to Cleveland with a cargo of shingles and lumber, entered Lake Erie from the Detroit River. The wind rose and the waves grew in height. The "Butters" turned into Lake Erie heading towards the Southeast Shoals Light, off the tip of Point Pelee. The wooden ship could not take the pounding of the waves. Settling into the lake, soon the boilers were extinguished and the "Butters" was at the mercy of the storm. Ten men set sail in the lifeboat, leaving only the captain and two men on board the sinking vessel. The Pioneer Steamship Company's "Frank R. Billings" and the "F.G. Hartwell" were nearby. The "Billings" approached to give aid. Pouring storm oil on the water, they were able to calm the seas enough to rescue Captain McClure and his two men. Meanwhile, the "Hartwell" rescued the men in the lifeboat.
A third ship the "D.L. Filer", a wooden schooner of 45 years, was headed from Buffalo to Saugatuck, Michigan with a load of coal. For two days, the "Filer" beat into the wind headed for the Detroit River at the western end of Lake Erie. Just off Bar Point, within sight of the mouth of the Detroit River, the pumps could no longer move the volume of water rushing into the holds, and the seams began to open. In eighteen feet of water, she settled to the bottom. Six men climbed the foremast, while the captain climbed the after mast. It looked like all seven of the crew could cling to the mast and weather the night. But the weight of six men snapped the fore mast and five disappeared. Only one man made it to the after mast and climbed to safety. As dawn broke the horizon, the "Western States" came into sight and turned towards the two men clinging to the mast protruding from the shallows. As the steamer approached, one man slipped from the mast and was never seen again. Only the Captain John Mattison was rescued.
Meanwhile, the Canadian steamer "Merida" disappeared that night. All 23 of her crew were found the next day floating in mid-lake, only identified by their life vests bearing the name "Merida".
Armistice Day blizzard (1940).
The Armistice Day Blizzard was a winter storm that occurred on November 11–12, 1940 which brought heavy snow and winds up to 80 mph. The lake freighter SS "William B. Davock" sank with all 33 hands in Lake Michigan south of Pentwater, Michigan. The SS "Anna C. Minch" foundered, broke in two and sank nearby with the loss of all 24 crew. A third ship, the SS "Novadoc", wrecked on a reef in the same area. Two crew were lost and the rest were rescued two days later by the tug "Three Brothers". Two smaller boats also sank, bringing the total death toll on the Lakes to 66.
Duluth Storm (1967).
On April 30, 1967, a storm in Duluth, Minnesota took the lives of three teenage boys and Coast Guardsman Edgar Culbertson. Culbertson and two others were part of a rescue team searching for the missing boys on the Duluth Entry pier on Lake Superior. Meteorologists and Minnesota residents often refer to this day as "Black Sunday". There were reports of heavy rain as far north as Duluth that day. The waves on Lake Superior in Duluth that night were reportedly over high at times; the lake had water with gale-force winds gusting up to .
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (1975).
Once again it was a November storm that took the lives of men and their ship. It was November 9, 1975 that "Edmund Fitzgerald" was downbound to Detroit with a load of taconite. "Arthur M. Anderson" joined her on Lake Superior and was downbound for Gary, Indiana. As they were crossing Lake Superior the winter storm blew in. Winds were reported in excess of with waves running up to . The next day, Monday, November 10, eastern Lake Superior was still experiencing winds of 50 knots (57.5 mph). That afternoon "Anderson" reported being hit by a 75-knot gust (86.3 mph). By 3:30 pm the "Fitzgerald" reported a minor list and top-side damage, including the loss of radar. "Fitzgerald" was leading, but slowed to close the distance between ships so that it could be guided by "Anderson", who still had radar. Just after seven that night, the last radio contact from the "Fitzgerald" said that they were still managing. By 7:20 p.m. there was no more contact and "Anderson" no longer saw "Fitzgerald" on radar.
"Fitzgerald" sank in Canadian waters deep, approximately 17 miles (15 nautical miles; 27 kilometers) from the entrance to Whitefish Bay near the twin cities of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Although "Fitzgerald" had reported being in difficulty earlier, no distress signals were sent before she sank. Her crew of 29 all perished, and no bodies were recovered.
Many theories, books, studies and expeditions have examined the cause of the sinking. "Fitzgerald" may have fallen victim to a huge wave, suffered structural failure, been swamped with water entering through her cargo hatches or deck, experienced topside damage, or shoaled in a shallow part of Lake Superior. The sinking of "Edmund Fitzgerald" is one of the best-known disasters in the history of Great Lakes shipping. Gordon Lightfoot made it the subject of his 1976 hit song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald".
The Lake Huron Cyclone (1996).
The 1996 Lake Huron cyclone was a unique storm for the Great Lakes, acquiring some tropical characteristics at its peak intensity.
Northeastern Ontario Derecho (2006)).
The 2006 Northeastern Ontario Derecho formed on the Great Lakes. The Storm caused damage throughout Northern Ontario, and into Quebec.
The "Chiclone" (2010).
On October 26, 2010, the USA recorded its lowest pressure ever in a continental, non-hurricane system, though its pressure was consistent with a category three hurricane. The powerful system was dubbed the "Chiclone" by the media as it hit the Chicago area particularly strongly, as well as Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. It was also meteorologically referred to as a bombogenesis due to the rapid drop of barometric pressure experienced.
In Superior, Wisconsin, the storm managed a 28.38 inch reading—a new all-time low for Wisconsin at the time. Near International Falls on the U.S./Canada border, the system's reading established a new all-time Minnesota low pressure. Early Tuesday morning October 26, an F2 tornado rushed through Will County, south of Chicago, at 7:00 AM. Another tornado is said to have struck Racine, Wisconsin, to the north, but has not yet been confirmed. In Roscoe, IL, about 100 miles to the west of Chicago and 15 minutes north of Rockford, a woman was killed after being crushed under a large tree that fell in her neighborhood of Chickory Ridge.
The storm also produced some of the highest officially recorded waves by weather buoys stationed in Lakes Superior and Michigan. Specifically, on Wednesday, October 27, 2010, buoy no. 45136, operated by Environment Canada, in northern Lake Superior recorded a significant wave height of 26.6 feet (this is average height of 1/3 of the highest waves over an hour), and buoy no. 45002, operated by the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC), recorded a significant wave height of 21.7 feet in northern Lake Michigan. This would appear consistent with the NOAA forecast for northern Lake Michigan calling for 21–26-foot waves that day. The persistence and strength of the storm's westerly winds also piled the waters of Lake Michigan along the Michigan shoreline leading to declines in lake levels on the Illinois and Wisconsin side of the lake. Based on NOAA lake level sensors, an updated analysis of Wednesday, October 27, 2010 water levels on Lake Michigan revealed a two-day decrease of 42 inches at Green Bay, WI and 19 inches at Calumet Harbor, IL---while NOAA sensors at Ludington, MI and Mackinaw City, MI measured lake level rises of 7 and 19 inches respectively.
A 78 mph gust was recorded the afternoon of October 27, 2010 at the Harrison-Dever Crib, three miles offshore of Chicago in Lake Michigan, with gusts reaching 63 mph at Chicago's Latin School and in Racine, Wisconsin, 61 mph at Buffalo Grove, Waukegan, Gary and Monroe, Wisconsin and 58 mph at Hinsdale. The storm further whitened sections of the Upper Midwest with the region's first significant snow Tuesday night and Wednesday. Snowfall reports from Minnesota and North Dakota indicate 9 inches fell at Twig, Minn.; 8.5 inches at Dunn Center, N.D.; 8 inches at Adolph, Minn. and Carrington, N.D.; 7.7 inches at Duluth; 4.1 inches Williston; 4 inches at Minot and 3.4 inches at Bismarck---all in North Dakota.
Superstorm Sandy (2012).
The cold front that merged with Hurricane Sandy at the end of October 2012 fueled Sandy's transition into a powerful extratropical cyclone, which brought strong winds and high waves across the Great Lakes. Lake Michigan recorded wave heights of 20 to 22 feet and wind gusts of 60 to 70 mph. The southern end of Lake Michigan experienced a lake level rise of 15 inches as the winds pushed water down the lake. Lake Huron experienced 23-foot waves and a wind gust of 74 mph was recorded at Fort Gratiot at the southern end of the lake. Most freighters stayed in harbor instead of trying to run through the storm.
The Lake Michigan Storm of Halloween 2014.
On October 31, 2014, there was a powerful storm which impacted the Great Lakes area during times when people are traditionally celebrating Halloween. It was also called a "great storm".