Take time to Remember

It is November 11, Remembrance Day 2010. It was always a very important day in my family. My late father taught us to respect the sacrifices that had been made by so many young men and women so that we could enjoy the freedom and life we do today in this great country of ours. We always wore a poppy and attended a service every year. They often had the service in downtown Montreal on the Sunday before the 11th and dad would take me each year.

SUNSHINE: The weather will be sunny today across the entire region with mild temperatures pushing 10C. The sunshine will continue into the weekend with above normal temperatures. Yesterday record highs were scattered across northern and central Ontario on the eastern flank of a prairie snowstorm. That storm produced cold and 10-20cm of snow in Regina and points south and east closing several highways and canceling flights at Regina airport. Gusty winds made travel difficult with many cars and trucks in the ditch. RCMP were not recommending travel along the Trans Canada. The snow and freezing rain has shifted into northern Manitoba today.

THE EDMUND FITZGERALD
"The Captain wired in he had water coming in And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went out of sight, Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."
Gordon Lightfoot
© 1976 Moose Music, Inc.
Image from (www.3dfitz.com)

It was 35 years ago yesterday, November 10, 1975, that the iron ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald went down in a fierce storm on Lake Superior. While weather played a definite role, the exact details of the sinking of the ship remains a mystery today, it went down quickly and with very little warning, taking 29 lives with her. The sinking was caused in part by a strong November Gale or "November Witch". We experienced an early season example of this last month when that big record breaking storm swept across the Great Lakes. The 1975 storm was intense with 20 foot waves on Lake Superior and winds gusting over 50 knots. The severe weather was confined to area along the immediate trajectory of the storm and especially rough in the waters of eastern Lake Superior exactly where the Edmund Fitzgerald was. It was a case of the wrong place at exactly the wrong time. The storm was known as a weather bomb with dropping pressure from 1000mb over Kansas to 978mb over James Bay within 24 hours. The rapid intensification caught the ship and its crew almost without warning. A memorial service was held yesterday at Whitefish Point, Michigan, not far from the final resting place of the majestic ship and her crew of 29 brave men. The ship is in 162 metres of water just inside the Canadian boundary.