 The Great Lakes Storm of 1913 , historically referred to as the " Big Blow , " the " Freshwater Fury , " or the " White Hurricane , " was a blizzard with hurricane @-@ force winds that devastated the Great Lakes Basin in the Midwestern United States and the province of Ontario in Canada from November 7 through November 10 , 1913 . The storm was most powerful on November 9 , battering and overturning ships on four of the five Great Lakes , particularly Lake Huron . Deceptive lulls in the storm and the slow pace of weather reports contributed to the storm 's destructiveness . 
