Today's Messages

Please join the Biology Department and the Great Lakes Center for the seminar “Great Lakes: Something about the Month of November!,” presented by Dr. Stephen Vermette on Monday, October 27, at 3:00 p.m. in SAMC 151. Attendees are welcome to arrive at 2:45 p.m. to enjoy coffee and cookies leading up to the seminar.

Research Seminar Abstract: The sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald on November 10, 1975, made famous by Gordon Lightfoot’s ballad “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” includes several references to November: “Gales of November comes early;” “Gales of November came slashin’;” “Gales of November remembered;” and “Witch of November comes stealing.” Historically, the month of November anchors what is known, in the circles of Great Lakes maritime navigation, as the “Season of Lake Disaster.” 

This presentation will focus on the historic aspects of this season, including Buffalo’s historic and social link to its harbor and, by extension, links to ships traversing across the Great Lakes. An examination of the lake-by-lake timing of shipwrecks, and how shipwrecks and storms served as a catalyst for the establishment of a national weather service, and, how in turn, the weather offices of Great Lake cities were always located within sight of harbors and shorelines.

There is indeed something about the month of November which stirs up the waters of the Great Lakes more than any other. Here we will explore the rapid deepening of mid-latitude cyclonic low-pressure systems tracking over the Great Lakes, resulting in a mix of wind, wave, rain, and snow, building in strength to what is now referred to as “bombogenesis.”