On Nov 13th last year, a strong storm moved across the Great Lakes, and unlike many November storms, this one reserved its greatest fury for Lake Ontario. As the surface low retreated ENE into Quebec, a very tight pressure gradient in it's wake created a violent tempest over the lake that started from about 250° and veered only slowly through to about 290° over a period of about 12 hours. These winds were close to being parallel to the long axis of Lake Ontario for quite a while and created truly mountainous seas over the eastern portion of the lake.

According to archived ETA data, the 850mb winds behind the storm reached 70 knots. As cold air moved into the area, the air became several degrees colder than the lake temperature, creating an unstable layer from the surface up to perhaps 850mb over the lake and enhancing downward momentum transport. The result was 50 knot storm winds that persisted for hours at the surface, with probable 1 minute sustained speeds of near 60 knots.