Re-Examining the Storm that Sunk the Edmund Fitzgerald | North Coast Chronicles

American Shoreline Podcast Network

Joining host Helen Brohl is Tom Hultquist, the Science and Operations Officer for the National Weather Service in Minneapolis, Minnesota. On November 10, 1975 during a severe storm, the Great Lakes bulk cargo vessel SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank with the loss of all 29 crew members in eastern Lake Superior about 17 miles from the entrance to Whitefish Bay, Michigan. The vessel sank quickly without sending a distress signal and, as we all know, the tragedy inspired Gordon Lightfoot to write his famous song. Was it the "perfect storm" or a typical "Gale of November?" What did Tom and his colleagues learn when they used modern technology to analyze the more limited meteorological data from 1975?