April 18, 1855 Tsunami: Owen Sound, Lake Huron, Canada

Reference #3935:

Tsunami source: Not known; it could be almost anywhere offshore or at the edge of Lake Huron in Ontario if it is a tectonically-caused tsunami and not a sudden storm surge related to "the day of the great tornado" as the article implies. The tsunami was seen in Owen Sound bay, Ontario (and, "the same phenomenon was observed in Lake Senecca, New York, out of the sphere of the tornado").

The tsunami, "commenced by the rising of the water to a height of say nine feet, and immediately falling down - say ten feet... an observer could distincly see the advancing and receding on the shore. When the water commenced to rise it came rushing up the river like a wave three feet high."

The Owen Sound Comet just assumes that this tsunami is atmospherically caused by the "great tornado". "There is something very remarkable in the simultaneous rise and fall in all our lakes on the day of the great tornado." h he phenomenon is doubtless owing to a storm."

It appears that a similar event had been seen several times before but not to such a degree or with such rapid flooding and ebbing.

No earthquake was reported in the Comet and Smith (1962) does not list an obvious causitive ,earthquake generally needed for a tectonically-induced tsunami.

This tsunami appears to be non-tectonic in origin but deserves to have other reports and weather or pressure reports documented from newspapers around Lake Huron in the US and Ontario.