Posted on 05/19/2006 9:12:53 PM PDT by ZGuy
Weather experts have "hindcasted" the storm that sunk the Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior during the November 1975.
Hurricane-force gusts and waves coming from an unexpected angle likely contributed to the disaster immortalized by Gordon Lightfoot in the song, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," researchers say.
All 29 crewmembers died.
"During the late afternoon and early evening of Nov. 10, conditions deteriorated rapidly with winds in excess of 69 mph, hurricane-force gusts [over 74 mph] and waves more than 25 feet high," said Thomas Hultquist, science and operations officer at the NOAA National Weather Service forecast office in Negaunee, Mich.
The freighter, thought like the Titanic to be invincible, was heading south. Waves were traveling west-to-east, the new analysis shows. This could have created a hazardous rolling motion. The ship sank about 15 miles from Whitefish Bay.
Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes.
"While high winds on Lake Superior are not rare, it is unusual for the waves to get that high on the lake," said Schwab. "It's unlikely that Captain Ernest McSorley, the skipper of the Edmund Fitzgerald, had ever seen anything like that in his career."
The findings are detailed in the May issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
"And the waves moving West to East?"
The "hurricane west winds" would have been caused by a very strong low pressure system almost directly south of them.
During the second world war, Minnesota was the largest single source of iron ore on the planet. During that period, over 50% of the earth's iron came from Minnesota. Today 75% of the United State's domestic iron ore comes from Minnesota.
The ships that haul this ore are HUGE.
Hey Westlander!
Long time, no see.
Intersting facts. Thanks for posting 'em.
Holy cow. That's an astonishing picture. Stretched out between the peaks of two big waves, or rolling between them, no wonder the thing broke and went down.
Check this out. It's the reason why there are warning signs regarding swimming = hypothermia in the summer.
http://www.coastwatch.msu.edu/
" Does anyone know were the love of God goes when the gails of November come early "
Not in the Great Lakes though....
"waves get pretty damn high, the wave frequency is higher than the ocean."
In the situation as described wouldn't the captain have turned the ship facing the waves? Judging by the photo in post 25 it looks to me the ship would have broken up anyway. Your opinion?
Welcome to FR, SgtK! Make sure your belts are securely fastened and your seat-tray is in the upright position!
Fun link! The surface temp of Lake Superior is averaging in the upper 30's. Lake Michigan is a blamy mid 40's.
I believe that you're looking for the term, "slant rhymes."
;-)
Welcome to Free Republic.com
I even know that there are only two surviors of the Titanic left alive. Infants at the time.
Gott im Himmel! I'm running out of lines! Looking back, it looks like most of 'em have been taken!
:-)
Ya. Those rhymes work best with a Canadian accent
"Does anyone know were the love of God goes when the gails of November come early"
It's "Does anyone know where the love of God goes, when the waves turns the minutes to hours"
Always hated that line.
Cool! Thanks!
Howdy. Just drying out after our 10th consecutive day of rain. But it did hit a scorching 59F today! The Fitz was loaded with....
http://www.geo.msu.edu/geo333/iron_ore__taconite.html
Here's some more for you....
http://region3.us.mensa.org/fitgerald.htm
lake superior has a phenomonom known as the three sisters. One wave will hit and before that wave falls back another will pile on that and before those 2 can fall back the third one its. Tons of water
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