Vermilion Lagoons Go Dry – November 22, 1956

It was a windy time in Sheffield Lake over the weekend, with some strong winds blowing off Lake Erie (which unfairly deposited all the leaves from the lakeside homes opposite mine onto my neatly manicured and previously leaf-free estate).

There were some pretty good winds back in November 1956 too. An article with the headline "Erie Water Shuffles Off To Buffalo" that ran in the Lorain Journal on November 22, 1956 – 60 years ago today – tells of the effect that the wind had on the Vermilion Lagoons.

The article noted, “Much of Lake Erie’s water was piled up near Buffalo yesterday leaving the Vermilion Lagoons almost dry, the Detroit River too low for navigation, and rivers between the east and west ends of the lake four to six feet below normal level.

“A gale in Lake Superior caught the ore freighter J. P. Wells off Sault Set. Marie and ripped off its rudder. It radioed it was adrift in the teeth of the storm and asked aid from the Coast Guard. The 420-foot freighter is owned by the Nicholson Transit Co. of River Rouge, Mich.

“Forecasters at the U. S. Weather Bureau at Cleveland Hopkins Airport said last night the low water level at this end of Lake Erie was the result of a strong southwesterly flow of winds throughout Tuesday night and all day yesterday.

"“It just blew the water up to the east end of the lake,” they explained, adding, however, that they had received no reports of flooding conditions around Buffalo."