NOTABLE NORTHLAND STORMS

Some of the major weather events that have affected the Northland in the past 150 years

November 1872: A “great storm” wrecked the Duluth harbor breakwater “to such an extent as to expose the elevator, warehouses and docks on the lakeshore to serious damage,” according to a history of the harbor published in the News Tribune in 1899.

July 16, 1891: A windstorm demolished buildings in Superior; at least two men died when a hotel under construction on Lamborn Avenue collapsed, the Duluth Daily Tribune reported. In Duluth, cedar paving blocks from Fourth Street were washed down Lake Avenue by floodwaters; the rainfall was the heaviest in memory.

March 9, 1892: A blizzard brought Duluth to a standstill, stalling street car traffic and stranding workers downtown. Many residents “tunneled through snow from their front doors to the street, and snow was piled up to the second-story windows,” the News Tribune recounted in a look back several years later.

Nov. 27-28, 1905: The “Mataafa Storm,” named for the freighter that was stranded offshore from Canal Park in Duluth with the loss of nine lives. The storm brought winds gusting to 70 mph. “Telephone, telegraph and street car communication was interrupted … and scores of persons were unable to get home,” the News Tribune reported on Nov. 28. “It is claimed by some of the old time lake men that the waves in the harbor were the highest seen in years.” Ships also were wrecked along the North Shore, and the storm spurred the construction of Split Rock Lighthouse.

July 21-22, 1909: A violent rainstorm flooded streets and homes in Duluth, and claimed the lives of two young children who were swept out of their mother’s arms as she tried to reach safety at Ninth Avenue East and Second Street. “Floods of water poured down every avenue, making Superior Street an almost impassable river, bringing with it big timbers, paving blocks and debris,” the News Tribune reported. Water flowed into the Bijou Theater and filled the orchestra pit as the musicians scrambled to escape.

Nov. 7-11, 1913: Sometimes known as the “White Hurricane,” this massive storm produced high winds in Duluth but intensified to the east to become on of the biggest storms in Great Lakes history. Wind speeds up to 90 mph created waves 35 feet high. More than a dozen ships foundered, and about 250 sailors died. The wreck of one of those ships — the Henry B. Smith — was discovered in 2013 offshore from Marquette, Mich., by a group of shipwreck hunters with Northland ties.

March 3-5, 1935: Duluth was “practically an isolated city,” linked to the outside world only by radio, after a major ice storm cut utilities and left roads impassable. There was major tree and utility damage from Hinckley and Moose Lake, across all of Duluth and Superior and up to the Iron Range and North Shore. Utility companies reported the damage was “the worst since electricity came to Duluth,” the News Tribune reported; one transmission line was down for several miles from Nopeming into Duluth, with the mangled wires frozen together.

Nov. 11-12, 1940: The Armistice Day Blizzard arrived suddenly, bringing a sharp drop in temperatures and heavy snow that stranded hundreds of motorists and hunters in the elements across the Midwest; dozens of people died. The Northland saw heavy snow and wind but escaped the worst of the storm — though there were some Northland residents among the crews of two ships that sank with all hands on Lake Michigan.

July 16-17, 1942: Torrential rain in excess of 8 inches led to flash flooding and major damage in Bayfield, carving out deep gullies in some places and depositing vast amounts of gravel and sand elsewhere, the National Weather Service reported.

Sept. 9-10, 1947: Hibbing saw 8.6 inches of rain in five hours, flooding an estimated 75 percent of basements in town. There was flooding across the Range; U.S. Highway 169 was closed, and several mining operations saw damage.

March 26-27, 1950: As Duluth welcomed home the state basketball champion Duluth Central Trojans, a sleet and ice storm caused widespread phone and power outages and downed hundreds of utility poles.

Dec. 4-8, 1950: A winter storm brought more than 30 inches of snow to Duluth over five days; crews struggled to clear streets after about a third of the city’s snow-removal equipment broke down.

May 26, 1958: A possible tornado caused damage in Duluth, including the collapse of a garage on Greene Street in West Duluth. Athletes and spectators at the city track meet at Public Schools Stadium had to take cover. To the north, large hail caused damage in Eveleth.

Nov. 28, 1960: Winds estimated at 75 mph kicked up huge waves on Lake Superior, which sent water and debris into Canal Park. The breakwaters along the Superior Entry were damaged, stranding two Coast Guardsmen in the lighthouse there for about two days, the News Tribune reported. There also was flooding in downtown Grand Marais, and about 1,000 cords of timber stockpiled on the waterfront was washed into the harbor.

March 1-5, 1966: A prolonged winter storm caused widespread power outages over several days and brought business to a halt in downtown Duluth. The Finland Air Force Station along the North Shore was cut off for several days as plow crews struggled to cut through 15-foot drifts.

April 30, 1967: Gale-force winds sent waves crashing over the piers of the Duluth ship canal. Three teenage brothers from Duluth drowned when they were swept off the north pier; a Coast Guardsman who attempted to rescue them also died.

Aug. 6, 1969: Two people died when an F3 tornado touched down near Boulder Lake and tracked east to Two Harbors. It was part of a large outbreak of tornadoes across Minnesota that day; another one that hit the community of Outing caused 12 deaths and injured 70.

August-September

1972: On Aug. 20, 1972, Duluth saw 3 inches of rain in two hours — after what had already been a very wet summer — causing major damage to streets on the hillside. Sixth Avenue East was among the hardest-hit locations. To the west, tons of sand stockpiled for the project to connect Piedmont Avenue with Interstate 35 washed down 20th Avenue West and closed Superior Street. A month later, an early-morning storm dropped another 4 to 6 inches of rain, undoing many of the repairs from the month before and affecting more areas, including Proctor. Two people died when their car went into a washout northeast of Two Harbors. Combined, the storms caused an estimated $41 million in damage — more than $200 million in today’s dollars.

March 23-25, 1975: A blizzard dropped more than a foot of snow and brought winds that reportedly gusted to 100 mph in Duluth, the Weather Service reported. Huge waves on Lake Superior sent debris into Canal Park, including into first-floor rooms of what was then a Holiday Inn along the shore. Interstate 35 was closed between Duluth and the Twin Cities, and waves damaged the Two Harbors municipal water plant. Another blizzard brought 12-plus inches of snow to Duluth days later — and all of that followed another blizzard that in January had dropped close to two feet of snow to parts of the Northland.

Nov. 10, 1975: A storm that brought relatively little snow and wind to the Northland intensified as it moved over eastern Lake Superior, where it produced hurricane-force winds that hit the freighter Edmund Fitzgerald. The Fitzgerald sank with the loss of all 29 men aboard, an tragedy remembered each Nov. 10 with a memorial observance at Split Rock Lighthouse.