Sarah Jamison, Service Hydrologist National Weather Service Forecast Office Cleveland

THE METEOROLOGY

OF THE 1913 FLOOD

Sarah Jamison, Service Hydrologist

National Weather Service Forecast Office Cleveland

• Storms of March 23-27th produced flooding over a thousand miles long and several hundred miles wide from Illinois to Connecticut.

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¼ of U.S. Population directly affected At the turn of the 20th century the Ohio Valley was the largest

producers of steel manufacturing, railroads, coal and natural gas

Heart of the Nation

Railroad Tracks 1900

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JD Rockefeller

Andrew Carnegie

State Capitals Inundated

Columbus, OH Albany, NY

Indianapolis, IN

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WEATHER RELATED FATALITIES OF MARCH 1913 Tornado Fatalities

Flood FatalitiesSevere Wind Fatalities

Source: National Weather Service Climate Records

Approximately 1,000

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Why was this event so catastrophic?

Dayton Ohio March 29, 1913

The Weather Bureau Offices in Detroit reported “A gale of unprecedented severity swept over southern Michigan. Buildings were razed, roofs blown off, chimneys toppled over, signs blown down, trees broken and uprooted, overhead wires prostrated, and several lives lost as a result of the storm’s fury.” Monthly Weather Summary, March 1913

March 23-Easter Sunday

Just before 6 p.m. local time on March 23rd, a strong tornado tore through an affluent part of Omaha, completely destroying hundreds of houses and displacing thousands. The tornado tracked for five miles through the heart of town with a width up to a  ¼ mile. This resulted in 103 fatalities, 49 more in other tornadoes and storms in Nebraska and Iowa. Photo courtesy of the NOAA Photo Library

Reanalysis of 1913 Weather

Support for the Twentieth Century Reanalysis Project dataset is provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (DOE INCITE) program, and Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER), and by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Program Office

http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/cgibin/data/composites/

March 23, 1913

Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

March 23, 1913

Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

LH

March 23, 1913

53

40

33

26

20

47

MPH

Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

March 24, 1913

Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

March 24, 1913

Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

L

HLL

March 24, 1913

60

40

33

26

20

47

MPH

54

Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

March 24, 1913

1.6

1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4

1.2

Inches

1.4

Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

March 25, 1913

Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

March 25, 1913

Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

L

HL

H

March 25, 1913

Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

60

40

33

26

20

47

MPH

54

March 25, 1913

1.6

1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4

1.2

Inches

1.4

Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

March 26 ,1913

Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

L

H

March 26, 1913

Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

March 26, 1913

1.6

1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4

1.2

Inches

1.4

Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

March 27, 1913

Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

March 27, 1913

Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

LH

500-1000 Year Rain Event

Conclusion Largest natural disaster national had ever been

faced with. 1913 flood reshaped National perception on

governments role in flood control Flood policy has changed significantly expanding

across several agencies and jurisdictions 1913 flood a good reminder of what is possible Nothing to prevent the same weather pattern

from forming again. The biggest difference will be our ability to warn,

prepare, and react.

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