Weather History: The October 1813 Lake Effect Snow Event

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On the heels of a soaking fall of rain, from October 9-16, 1813, a furious lake effect snowstorm brought blinding snows to the lake effect snow belts along Lakes Erie and Ontario. In places, the accumulation exceeded two feet.

On the night of October 9, snow commenced falling at Erie, Pennsylvania. Afterward, it continued to fall with "little intermission" for 5 days. By then, the snow on the ground was more than a foot deep.

A letter from Erie dated October 11 read:

We have had a very severe storm here since yesterday morning--the wind from the southwest, which increased until after sunset, when it blew with still greater violence until eleven o'clock, accompanied with snow and hail [sleet]--it has somewhat abated, but the snow still continues, being now three or four inches deep, and would have been much deeper had it not dissolved considerably as it fell in consequence of the ground being very wet with heavy rain.

Another letter from there dated October 14 stated:

We had a snowstorm here on Monday and Tuesday last [October 11-12] which exceeded anything ever known at so early a season. At this place it was twelve inches deep on a level, notwithstanding the continual melting occasioned by previous rains, and between here and Waterford it was nearly two feet deep.

At Sackett's Harbor, the snow began falling on Sunday, October 10. By nightfall, the snow was two inches deep. For almost a week, New York State's lake effect areas were hammered by unrelenting plumes of wind-driven snow.

The Connecticut Herald reported, "On the 16th inst. snow fell at Cattaraugus, a foot deep, and at Chautauqua Lake, nearly 2 feet. 70 or 80 barrels of salt were destroyed at Black Rock and Buffalo Creek during the storm." The Herkimer American added, "We are credibly informed that in the town of Denmark, (Lewis Co.) the snow was 2 1/2 feet deep on Tuesday last, (the 12th inst.) and so drifted that the inhabitants were obliged to turn out with cattle and break the roads, before the Sackett's Harbor stage could pass."

As the the air warmed, the lake effect snows ended in "a storm of wind and rain" which produced flooding along the shoreline of Lake Erie.