The meteorology of the 1913 flood

1. Sarah Jamison, Service Hydrologist National Weather Service Forecast Office Cleveland The meteorology of the 1913 flood

2. Storms of March 23-27th produced flooding over a thousand miles long and several hundred miles wide from Illinois to Connecticut. http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/1913Flood/

3. Heart of the Nation JD Rockefeller Andrew Carnegie Railroad Tracks 1900 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 http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/1913Flood/

4. State Capitals Inundated Albany, NY Columbus, OH Indianapolis, IN http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/1913Flood/

5. Tornado Fatalities Flood Fatalities Severe Wind Fatalities Weather Related Fatalities of March 1913 Approximately 1,000 Source: National Weather Service Climate Records

6. Why was this event so catastrophic? Dayton Ohio March 29, 1913 http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/1913Flood/

7. 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

8. 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

9. Reanalysis of 1913 Weather http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/cgibin/data/composites/ 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

10. 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/

11. March 23, 1913 H L Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

12. March 23, 1913 MPH 53 47 40 33 26 20 Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

13. 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/

14. March 24, 1913 H L L L Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

15. March 24, 1913 MPH 60 54 47 40 33 26 20 Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

16. March 24, 1913 Inches 1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

18. 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/

19. March 25, 1913 H H L L Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

20. March 25, 1913 MPH 60 54 47 40 33 26 20 Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

21. March 25, 1913 Inches 1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

22. March 26 ,1913 H L Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

23. 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/

24. March 26, 1913 Inches 1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

25. 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/

26. March 27, 1913 L H Image provided by the NOAA-ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder Colorado from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/

28. 500-1000 Year Rain Event

29. 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.

30. http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/1913Flood/