Great Lakes Storm of 1913

Date: November 9, 1913 • Location: Washington, United States

A severe blizzard reached its maximum intensity in the Great Lakes Basin of North America, destroying 19 ships and 68,300 tons of cargo, and killing more than 250 people.

The Great Lakes Storm of 1913, historically referred to as the Big Blow, the Freshwater Fury and the White Hurricane, was a blizzard with hurricane-force winds that devastated the Great Lakes region in the Midwestern United States and Southwestern Ontario, Canada, between November 7 and 10, 1913. The storm was at its most powerful on November 9, battering and overturning ships on four of the five Great Lakes, particularly Lake Huron.