27 October 2010

How windy was it?

Everyone in the Upper Midwest has been talking about the "land hurricane" that has swept the area for the past several days.  I won't repeat any of the stories, which you have either heard or don't care about.  But I thought the graphic of wave height on Lake Superior, from NOAA, is interesting.  The winds today are coming from the south and west, so with that long fetch over the lake, the red and purple colors near the Canadian side indicate waves 20-25' high!  (I presume these data reflect computer modelling rather than actual measurements since the timestamp is later today).

I read in one comment thread that every ore boat has been pulled off the lake into harbor to prevent another incident like the Edmund Fitzgerald (Gordon Lightfoot song in an excellent video at the link).

1 comment:

  1. That's a very good argument for staying off the water.
    I remember hearing Gordon lightfoot's song long ago and wanting to learn more about the Edmund Fitzgerald, I think I might have seen the discovery channel documentary.

    I just can't imagine it.

    I remember the news stories here in Britain, the loss of the bulk ore carrier MV Derbyshire, at 169,000 ton, the biggest of her kind, or at least, one of the six biggest, as she had five sisters. She was, however, the largest British ship ever lost at sea.
    There are some parallels to the Edmund Fitzgerald, she went down so suddenly that though one punch of a button would have transmitted a Mayday call, none went out. September 9, 1980 during typhoon Orchid, south of Japan.




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