Hi, this is Meteorology Steve Pelletier. I am the Weatherman. Thanks for checking in to the Weatherman Pont.com on the Monday. It's the 10th day of the month of November, 2025, and it's the 50th anniversary of the loss of the Edmonton Fitzgerald in Lake Superior. Now, information about this is given to us by our good friend Jeff Morrison, who has always been interested in weather since he was a small kid, and he has been collecting New Jersey weather data for 50 years and has been providing local observations to us here at Ion Weather since 1979. Jeff has been a longtime member and friend of the North Jersey Weather Observers, along with being a local Kokorush, community collaborative rain and hail snow network observer in Somerset County. And he provides valuable precipitation data on this nationwide network. Jeff has a full weather station at his home and enjoys writing articles on a variety of weather topics, including this one today, the 50th anniversary of the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald in the Great Lakes. Jeff writes, how often do we hear during the winter months by meteorologists giving weather reports that may say something like, Lake effect snows bury buffalo in the area of three feet of snow, or lake effects snows continue in western New York State for the past week? What is it about the Great Lakes that cause strong storms to develop, especially in late fall and winter, and dump snow measured in feet rather than inches? While the Great Lakes may look like inland seas, their weather patterns behave with an intensity and unpredictability more associated with the storms out in the open ocean. Their unique meteorological character is shaped by the lake's sheer size, geography, and seasonal temperature swings. Stretching over 750 miles from west to east, the Great Lakes hold about 20%, 20% of the world's fresh water supply. Their vast surface allows winds to build strength, generating waves that can rival or exceed ocean storms. However, unlike the ocean, the Great Lakes are surrounded by land masses, which can funnel and amplify storm systems. In addition, cold Arctic air can sweep down from Canada, meeting the relatively warm lake waters, creating sharp temperature contrasts that intensify the wind and precipitation. In the winter, these effects can produce the blinding lake effects snow. In the late fall, they often generate fierce gales. Jeff writes, Lake Superior, the largest and most northerly of the Great Lakes, is particularly notorious for these types of storms. Its size, 350 miles long, 160 miles wide, and averaging about 500 feet deep, gives it the characteristics needed to grow massive waves to unbelievable heights. The lake's remoteness also means that weather systems can develop quickly, with little advanced warning leaving ships that traverse the lakes potentially vulnerable. By November, the lake surface water retains warmth while surrounding air temperature drops quickly, fueling powerful low pressure systems that can sweep across the region. We're seeing some of those high pressures moving down on this Monday and Tuesday across the Great Lakes, so maybe some lake effect is going to be happening there. Now back to Jeff's article. November 10th, 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the freighter, the Edmund Fitzgerald. Launched in 1958, the Edmund Fitzgerald took its name from the president of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance, which commissioned the ship. The Fitz was a 729-foot freighter and the largest in the Great Lakes at the time. So 729 feet in 1958 was the max on the Great Lakes. Known as the Pride of the American side, she regularly carried taconite iron ore from northern mines to steel mills in the lower Great Lakes. The Fitz, like other iron ore shipping vessels, had a novel design, about as long as a 73-story office building on its side, but remarkably only 75 feet wide. On November 9th, the Fitz departed Superior, Wisconsin, with a full load of ore bound for Detroit. Another voyage for the ship that had logged more than a million nautical miles in its 17 years on the lakes. This is on November 9th of that year. That same day, meteorologists were tracking the storm system moving northeast out of the central plains. By the morning of the 17th, it had deepened rapidly to one of the most severe Great Lake storms in the previous 60 years. Sustained winds of over 60 miles per hour were recorded, and wind gusts of 100 miles per hour, with waves estimated to reach 25 feet and higher, rogue waves of 50 feet hit ships on Lake Superior. The Fitz fought these conditions throughout the day on the 10th, accompanied by another freighter, the Arthur M. Anderson. Now around 7.10 on this day, 7.10 p.m., the Fitz captain, 63-year-old Ernest McSorley, who ironically, along with a few other of the crew members, was planning to retire after this very voyage, radioed that they were holding their own. But minutes later, the ship vanished from the Anderson's radar. No distress signal was sent, and all 29 crew members were lost. Investigations in underwater videography taken over the years have produced a variety of possible causes for the Fitz sinking. From structural failure, water intake from the large waves that I mentioned, some of them 25 to 50 feet, and large waves that broke over her decks. Navigational errors and other possibilities were also investigated. The actual cause may never be known. Today, meteorologists and mariners still study the Edmund Fitzgerald not only as a memorial to the lost crew, but as a reminder that even with modern forecasting, southern wind shifts, extreme wave heights, and rapidly deepening storms remain a serious hazard on the Great Lakes. Now, 50 years later, the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald underscores a truth that mariners on the Great Lakes have long known. That the Great Lakes may be freshwater inland seas, but their storms can be very and every bit as dangerous, more so than those in the oceans. Perhaps the haunting words of the late Canadian songwriter Gordon Lightfoot's memorial tribute to the ship's crew in the wreck of the Edmunds Fitzgerald best describes the tragedy. And the lyrics go. The legend lives on from the Chapioa on down of the big lake they call Kichigumi. The lake, as it said, never gives up her head when the skies of November turn gloomy. With a load of iron ore and 26,000 tons of more, then the Edmunds Fitzgerald weighed empty. That good ship and a crew was boned to be chewed when the gales of November came early. Once again, thanks to Jeff Morrison for sharing this information on the 50-year anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior. As far as our weather is concerned, we may start out on this Monday morning with a little bit of light shower action, especially after the east and into New England. However, as the day wears on, the cloud cover will slowly gradually give way to some clearing, and temperatures for the day only ranging into the 50s, about 50 to 55, west winds at 5 to 15. It'll be partly cloudy tonight, cold, overnight lows, upper 20s, north and west, to about 30 to 35 along the coast. And it looks mostly clunny, uh actually sunshine to start the day on Veterans Day Tuesday, with an increase in clouds on the afternoon, though highs will range up to only 40 to 45. It's gonna be breezy and chilly. West winds 15 to 20, gusting to 40 on Veterans Day. At night there'll be some clouds down to 32. Wouldn't be surprised to see some snow showers or flurries across the Poconos, the Catskills, or upper New York State as well. And then on Wednesday back to partial sunshine, it warms up just about 2.50, lows at night 38. Thursdays looking sunny 51.52 on Friday. Uh back into the 40s for Saturday and Sunday of next weekend. We do get into some colder weather that will most likely continue at that time. Now, if you're traveling today by air, our aviation outlook across the nation shows the area of low pressure that gave us some rain in the mid-Atlantic and northeast during the daytime on Sunday, and especially on Sunday night, is now pulling away rapidly across into Nova Scotia into Canadian Maritimes. In its wake, some of those snow squalls and some lake effects snow showers are now occurring. We talked about with the Edmonds Fitzgerald a little bit earlier. The strongest of the stro snow squalls will be just to the south of Lake Superior, just to the east of Lake Michigan, uh south of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, uh, probably just around the Buffalo to Rochester area in New York State and around Cleveland, Hopkins County, throughout uh much of uh northern Ohio, actually northeastern Ohio. So uh some of that is happening, so that will cause some delays if you're going into Cleveland or to Detroit or even into the Chicago area. There will be uh some very windy conditions for the early portion of the day, but the drying out as the day wears on. Also, because of the gussy northwest winds or westerly winds, there will be some delays in North, New York, LaGuardia, and JFK, less so in JFK, but more so in the other airports because of those winds and restricted runways. Fair weather but windy in Atlanta, good weather in central and south Florida, Houston, Dallas, all looking good. Minneapolis, St. Paul, just cold but getting warmer. It looks like dry weather in San Diego, LA, San Francisco, but rainy weather returns to Pacific Northwest in Portland and in Seattle. I've been your mother, Steve Pelletier. Thanks to Jeff Morrison for giving us that information on the Edmund Fitzgerald or the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Uh the anniversary is on this date, the 10th of November. So thanks to Jeff. Hopefully we'll get some more stories from him. Maybe we can get him to come on uh the weathermanpod.com at some point in the future. But uh right now, I hope you have a good day and we'll talk to you first thing on Tuesday. I know it went a little bit long today, but I think it was worth it. Have a great day. Take care.