November 7th of 1913 found a developing low pressure in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. As the low continued to grow in strength, it moved southeast and hit Wisconsin by evening of the 8th. The now ferocious storm moved north of Lake Erie on the 9th with hurricane force winds and blinding snow. During the night of the 9th-10th, it continued on its southeastern path coming across Lake Erie and hitting northeastern Ohio.
When the storm began on the 9th in Ohio, the wind raged at 51mph and temperatures were in the 30’s, but fell steadily through the day. By nightfall there was freezing rain and then snow as the wind held steady at 79mph with gusts of 90mph. Snow fell for 50 hours in the state, but the heaviest precipitation fell as snow from the afternoon of the 9th into the afternoon of the 10th.
As the blizzard raged across most of the state, utility lines and poles were downed in many areas. Eastern Ohio was virtually paralyzed through the 11th. The Cleveland Weather Bureau Office measured 17.4 inches of snow in 24 hours (a record that held until it snowed 19.7 inches on April 04, 1987). Storm total there was 22.2 inches, while some locations in eastern Ohio, like Cuyahoga Falls, got two feet of snow with snow drifts from 6-8 feet. Western sections of the state generally had 6 inches or less.
Northeast Ohio residents were left stranded without food and coal, the water supply was tainted, and transportation ground to a halt. Hospitals were forced to turn people away due to diminishing supplies while doctors performed operations by candlelight. The Plain Dealer estimated that 250 people died in the storm with undertakers unable to bury the deceased due the snowfall.
More than 5,000 members of the Ohio National Guard were called into duty, pressed into long hours clearing roads, assisting utility crews, rescuing stranded persons, and transporting medical staff.
