One of the great November gales was lashing the U.P. and the rest of the region on this date 110 years ago. Low pressure, born over the north Pacific, drifted to a position near the Twin Cities on November 7, 1913. The low then drifted slowly south and then east of Upper Michigan the next day bringing much of the U.P. it’s first significant snowfall of the season.

The lighthouse keeper in Escanaba wrote: “Wind NNW. During the morning it increased to a severe snow storm, which raged all day.” On Lake Superior, huge waves caused the ore carrier L.C. Waldo to slam into Gull Rock off the Keweenaw Peninsula. The wet, frozen crew somehow survived until their rescue two-and-a-half days later.

The storm was expected to blow itself out within a day or so. But this was a rogue storm that redeveloped over the Mid-Atlantic states on Sunday, November 9. 1913. It was the day the freighter Henry B. Smith stopped at Marquette harbor for a load of iron ore. It’s captain, Jimmy Owen, decided to leave the safety of the harbor late in the day during a lull in the storm.

It was a disastrous decision. Just after the boat left Marquette, the northwesterly gale re-intensified as the Mid-Atlantic low strengthened and moved north-northwestward back to the Great Lakes. A few days later, wreckage from the ship was found strewn along the beach east of Marquette. The ship went down with all hands.

During a six-hour period on the evening of November 9, 1913, the Smith along with eight other boats on Lake Huron were lost along with over 200 sailors. It is by far, the deadliest gale to ever hit the Great Lakes.

No gales are expected over the next week. It will start cold on Saturday with some flurries possible close to Lake Superior, but then a warming trend sets in Sunday. Temperatures should then be above average well into next week.