Summer: And Strong Thunderstorms

Just a quick note: this morning, about 1:50 a.m. and 2:15 a.m., thunderstorms went through town. I haven't noticed any damage here, aside from a scattering of twigs and leaves on the ground. I stayed up for the event, since the warning mentioned half-dollar-size hail. Hail we got: half-dollar-size, not so much. Can't say I'm disappointed.

School's Out All Day

We got a call early this morning, from the automated Sauk Centre schools system. The message said something about freezing rain: and that school was closed today. All day.

I'm impressed. It takes very serious weather to get a two-hour delay: closed for the day is quite unusual.

I see that Interstate 94 was closed from Alexandria to Fergus Falls. That's west of us: more like west by northwest, actually. Part of the Interstate is open again, but I'm glad that travel isn't in my plans today:

• "Slick Roads, I-94 Reopens Near Alexandria"
  Cassie Hart, KSTP.com (March 15, 2013 6:49 a.m., updated 9:25 a.m.)

An updated report on Minnesota driving conditions boils down to "difficult:"

• Minnesota Road Traveler Information Service
  Minnesota Department of Transportation

Rain, Snow: Held Over - - - By Popular Demand?

We've got a winter weather advisory going until midnight. It used to be until 3:00 p.m., but apparently was so popular that the weather service extended it.

The opening act was rain, more or less. "Drizzle" would be more accurate.

That turned by degrees into tiny damp bits of snow: which is what we've still got, a few minutes before four.

My webcam (Small Town America: Central Minnesota) looks at the northeast part of Ash Street and South 9th, here in Sauk Centre.

The window is next to my desk, but I'm more likely to 'look' outside through the webcam: and that's another topic.

More Snow, Less Wind, and a Long Weekend

More snow, less wind, than last night. November 23, 2012.

It sounded like winter last night, with wind rushing a little snow around the house. I stayed up later than I might have, since weather reports kept adding 'one more thing' to the forecast: but kept insisting that the excitement would be over at 6:00 this morning. As it turns out, they were right.

Staying inside makes sense in that sort of weather, but for some folks staying put isn't an option.

"Warm weather gives way to snowy, cold Thanksgiving"
Ryan Johnson, INFORUM (November 22, 2012, 9:26 p.m.)

"The unseasonably warm weather of recent days came to an abrupt end Thanksgiving afternoon...

"...Meteorologist Brad Hopkins said Fargo started its Thanksgiving at about 39 degrees, but the temperature dropped to about 20 by the evening as strong winds and 1 to 2 inches of snow swept across most of the Red River Valley and parts of Minnesota.

"...Pembina County in northeastern North Dakota issued a no-travel advisory at 6 p.m. because of black ice and poor conditions.

"Gusts of more than 30 mph also reduced visibility and contributed to accidents along Interstate 94 near Fergus Falls, Minn...."

Now I'm going to get back to having a relaxed Thanksgiving Day weekend.

Somewhat-related posts:

• "Thanksgiving, 2012: Macy's Parade; Wind Advisory; Relaxing"
  (November 22, 2012)
• "Thanksgiving Day, 2012: Desperate Times..."
  Apathetic Lemming of the North (November 22, 2012)
• "Christmas, 2011"
  (December 25, 2011)
• "Wintry Weather and a Balky Furnace"
  (October 27, 2010)
• "October's Dull Gray Weather; Winter Preparations; and a Fine Son"
  (October 20, 2009)

Birdbath, Bingo Booth, and Trade Show

Getting caught up:

July 19, 2011. I see I didn't mention it that day, but on the 19th, our birdbath basin reappeared. It blew away in the July 10 storm. Someone must have found it, and figured out where it came from. And left it by the birdbath column. Thank you!

New-to-us pool table. July 3, 2011.

My wife bought a pool table around July 3, at a rummage sale. It's not perfectly flat - but it took a bit of play to be sure about that. The folks who had it asked for about 1/10 to 1/100 of what I've seen this sort of thing selling for - and I'm pretty sure that they knew it wasn't exactly up to tournament standards. So I think it was a satisfactory trade for both of us.

I've gotten another bulletin out for the Knights of Columbus local council. We're getting the Bingo booth set up at the Stearns County Fair. And for the first time in many years - I won't be calling numbers at the 6:00-8:00 p.m. Saturday shift.

I've got a pretty good reason for not being there. My son-in-law and #2 daughter are taking me to a trade show in Philadelphia: where I'll be the company gopher and booth-sitter-in-residence. It's the first time in many years that I've been at a convention and trade show, and the first time ever being in Philadelphia. Near the city, actually. It's going to be a long week, the trade show lasts Monday through Friday: but I think it's going to be a good experience.

Sort-of-related posts, not necessarily in this blog:

• "Trade Show Time: Catholic Marketing Network"
  (July 27, 2011)
• "Of Exercise, Heat, and Melting Butter"
  (July 19, 2011)
• "Sinclair Lewis Days Parade, and Storm Photos"
  Sauk Centre Journal Blog (July 17, 2011)
• "Sauk Centre Storm July 10: No Power, No Internet, No Injuries"
  Sauk Centre Journal Blog (July 12, 2011)

More Excitement This Summer

Mhr>Updated 8:17 p.m., August 12, 2010

"Statement as of 8:14 PM CDT on August 12, 2010

"The National Weather Service in the Twin Cities has issued a

"* Tornado Warning for---
eastern Stearns County in central Minnesota---
northwestern Sherburne County in central Minnesota---
Benton County in central Minnesota---

"* until 900 PM CDT

"* at 809 PM CDT... radar indicated a storm capable of producing a tornado. The most dangerous part of the storm was near Waite Park--- or over Waite Park--- and moving northeast at 30 mph."
(Sauk Centre, Minnesota, Wunderground.com)

That's almost an hour's drive east by southeast of here. I've got in-laws, nieces & nephews living near there.

I'll say this for Minnesota climate: It's not boring.

---

Updated 7:42 p.m., August 12, 2010

Thunder has merged into a continuous rumble to the west, with occasional crescendos.


Radar, about 7:32 p.m. CDT, August 12, 2010.

---

There's a tornado watch up for my part of Minnesota, effective until 10:00 tonight.

As Wunderground.com passed the message along:

"...At 655 PM CDT--- National Weather Service radar indicated a line of severe thunderstorms capable of producing damaging winds in excess of 60 mph. These storms were located along a line extending from Willmar to Lakeside to Gibbon--- moving northeast at 55 mph...."
(Sauk Centre, Minnesota, Wunderground.com)

Based on what I've seen on radar, a really heavy part of this storm should reach Sauk Centre in about a half hour.

I've lived either here in Sauk Center or in the Red River Valley of the North for the bulk of my life - and we've got a lot more information to work with now, than back in the "good old days."

I took a few photos, to show what I mean:


That's where I work - and, now, monitor the storm. About 6:40 p.m., August 12, 2010.


Even without the watch and warning, I'd have figured that something was going on. Those clouds promise - interesting - weather. About 6:41 p.m., August 12, 2010.


Radar, with the bow-shaped line that's typical of strong storms. The system is headed northeast. About 6:44 p.m., August 12, 2010.

I'm posting this, and then getting back to keeping one eye on the storm, and the other on the writing I'd normally be doing this evening.

Related post:

• "Tree Removal: We've Had Enough Excitement This Summer"
  (August 4, 2010)

A Storm, an Old Willow, and a Squirrel

A strong thunderstorm went over Sauk Centre - and quite a few other parts of central Minnesota - this evening.

Right now, about ten minutes before 10:00 p.m. CDT, the line of storms that our bit of excitement was part of seems to be mostly in southern Minnesota and Wisconsin: and still going strong.

It looks like our part of the world fared pretty well. The St. Cloud Times' headline is a good summary: "Heavy storm leaves mostly minor damage in Central Minnesota." (Mark Sommerhauser, TaLeiza Calloway, St. Cloud Times (July 27, 2010)) According to the article we had around 60 mile an hour wind gusts. Over in Morrison County, ligntning blew a smallish hole in the side of one family's home, and damaged another family's phone box. The folks with the perforated house were in the basement at time time, and weren't hurt.

When we looked out the east door, after the storm had moved on, we had a much better view of the sky than we'd had before. The top and north side of the old willow tree in our back yard wasn't there.


The old willow looked a lot shorter than it was before the storm. About 5:56 p.m. July 27, 2010.

At that point, I thought it would be a matter of getting someone to cut the fallen branches to workable lengths and haul them off: then wait for the tree to grow to its full height again. That willow has weathered a great many storms.

Walking round to the other side of the tree, though: I'm not so sure it'll come back this time. Or that it's a good idea to let it re-grow the upper works.


I'm really glad this wasn't close to anything other than the shed. About 5:59 p.m. July 27, 2010.


Most of the old willow is on the ground now. About 5:59 p.m. July 27, 2010.

A few minutes after six, I noticed a squirrel on the stub of a branch, on the one remaining top trunk of the tree. It had stepped out, a bit like a homeowner coming out on the front stoop to look around after a storm. Which it probably was doing: Quite a few squirrels lived in that old willow. After looking around, the squirrel sat up and started rather vigorously grooming its tail.

Later in the evening, I heard an unfamiliar bird squawking. My guess is that it's another dispossessed critter from the tree.

Still later, we got this sunset:


Sunset. July 27, 2010.

Meanwhile, I've made about 150 tickets for the Knights of Columbus bingo workers. We're getting ready to be at the 'bingo booth' at the Stearns County Fair again this year.

Home, at Last! - of a Winter Storm, Interstate Traffic, and Utility Trucks

My wife, #3 daughter, and son got back from an unexpectedly long visit at #2 daughter's household, up in the Red River Valley of the north. My son-in-law's, too, of course.

Winter storm warnings are still up - and I'm duly grateful to be back at home.

I was getting a little tired, after a few hours driving on the Interstate, when I noticed a truck up ahead. We'd already passed a line of something like a dozen utility trucks - cherry pickers and all - which had all stopped on the shoulder where one (1) truck-size vehicle had keeled over on its right side.

No idea why so many utility trucks were apparently responding to an accident.

Anyway, back to that truck: it was one of those that looks like a box on wheels from the back. Nothing unusual. I was going along at about 50 miles an hour, which was close to average for traffic there.

And, as I said, after a few hours of driving, I was getting a bit tired. We'd stopped off in Fergus Falls for supper (Debbie's Home Style Kitchen, first stoplight east of the 210 / Lincoln Avenue Interstate exit - highly recommended), but like I said: I was getting a bit tired.

So there we were, after dark, on the Interstate, about six seconds behind this truck, going about 50, when a semi passes us. Nothing unusual about that: the semi was going maybe 55, and I was thinking about picking up the pace a little.

Then I noticed two things:

1. Beautiful dancing strands of snowy fog were
   • Writhing away from the back of the semi
   • Hiding
     • The road
     • The back of the semi
     • And just about everything else
2. The red taillights of that truck (not the now-invisible semi)
   • They were getting bigger
     • FAST

I couldn't jam on the brakes. Well, I could - but I've lived in this are long enough to know that you don't do that in road conditions like this.

As gently as I could, given the speed with which that truck's rear end was rushing toward me and my family, I eased back on the gas and slid (bad choice of words - make that merged) into the passing lane, behind the mass of writhing ephemeral tendrils which presumably still concealed the back of a semi.

I think we were going about 45 miles an hour when we rushed by that truck.

My attention was focused on cutting speed as fast as I could, safely, to keep out of the thickest part of whatever the semi was kicking up: while retaining control of our van, staying on the road, and not hitting the other truck.

As the now-crawling truck's headlights receded in the rear-view mirror, the snow tendrils disappeared. The semi was well ahead of us by then. I eased back into the right lane. My wife remarked, casually, "you'd think a driver for [familiar company name omitted] would drive faster."

I wasn't tired any more.

Christmas Day, 2009

Merry Christmas!

There's more to this day than snow, mistletoe, and "Jingle Bell Rock" More in:

• "Christmas? Yeah, it's a Pretty Big Deal"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (December 24, 2009)

There's quite a bit of snow, though. And more coming down.

We've heard from #2 daughter and her husband. He says my wife is his favorite mother-in-law. She insisted that those two get a snowmobile.

They live in the Red River Valley of the North, on the North Dakota side. Some towns are closed down up there, riding out the storm.

The church in town, near their home, wasn't one of the ones that had canceled Christmas Eve Mass - and they made it in, thanks to the snowmobile. They went into the ditch a few times, I understand, and had to get off and walk the snowmobile at least once - but apart from that, the trip was uneventful.

Where roads were parallel with the wind, the going was smooth. Roads at right angles to the wind were drifted in. I'm told that riding over those was a bit like racing over a very choppy lake.

Nothing that exciting happened here. We live in town, so the plow crew has been by - several times - keeping the streets open. My son's cleared the driveway and, I think, sidewalk. At the rate the snow's coming, a plow will probably be by at least once more. Which will put another rampart at the end of the driveway.

Oh, well.

Thursday: Thunderstorms, Hail, and a Tornado Watch

Minnesota's weather is not boring. Right now, we're in a tornado watch, and will be for another hour and twenty minutes - unless the Weather Service lifts the watch.

Thunderstorms have been going by, dropping much-needed rain.


Part of the after-storm show, 9:23 p.m., Sauk Centre, Minnesota

And, about 10 miles down the road, hail.

"06/18/2009 0307 PM

"2 miles S of Osakis, Douglas County.

"Hail e0.88 inch, reported by trained spotter." Local Storm Report On Wunderground.com

I didn't see any hail in the neighborhood, but that's not surprising. Hail's even more localized than thunderstorm cells. Can't say that I feel left out. Chunks of ice as big across as an American nickel are a phenomenon I wouldn't want to get up close and personal with.

"It Could be Worse," as We Say in Minnesota

Austin, Minnesota, south of the Twin Cities, had a bad night yesterday. According to the police chief, three tornadoes went through the area.

The good news is that someone's lacerated hand, bad enough to warrant a trip to the hospital, was the worst injury, and nobody was killed.

The bad news is that 15 or 20 homes were damaged, around 600 trees ripped down in the city parks, and millions of dollars damage done to homes and businesses.

It doesn't look like we'll be seeing anything like that here, tonight. There's just over twenty minutes left in the watch as I'm wrapping this up: and nothing really close, apart from a clump of rain on the other side of Alexandria, some 20 miles west by northwest.

Austin, Minnesota, Tornado Video

I checked out YouTube, and found this collection of video clips taken by a storm chaser near Austin, Minnesota, last night. The video is quite striking, and the language of the people with the storm chaser fairly mild by contemporary standards.

"06 17 09 Storm Chase - Austin, MN"

BradNelson100, YouTube (June 17, 2009)
video 2:29


View Larger Map

In the news:

• "Tornado Watches, Warnings Hit Minn."
  MyFOXTwinCities.com (June 18, 2009)
• "Clean-Up Underway After Austin Tornado"
  MyFOXTwinCities.com (June 18, 2009)
• "At Least 1 Tornado Rips Through Austin Wednesday Night"
  MyFOXTwinCities.com (June 18, 2009)
• "More storms expected as tornadoes batter Midwest"
  CNN (June 18, 2009)

Minnesota's Wild Night

Sauk Centre wasn't the only place to get wild weather last night. Twin Cities news services reported that 100,000 Excel customers (that's a big power company in Minnesota) were without power at one point. The Twin Cities had trees uprooted, but no one hurt, as of this morning.

A friend of one of my daughters lives near Alexandria, about 20 miles (30 kilometers or so) up I-94. They were without power for 5 hours.

Here in Sauk Centre's south side, we didn't have more than about a minute of no power. But that was enough to add resetting clocks to today's task list.

The storm kept me up well past 1 this morning. I don't like having every member of the family asleep with weather like last night's brewing. Friday had been hot, humid, and with a strong south wind. Even without National Weather Service warnings, it was pretty clear that odds favored a storm.

There was another reason for staying up late. More about that at Starting a Small Business Without Losing My Mind.

The St. Cloud Times says that last night's rain brought their monthly rainfall total up to par, plus some. That's good news, considering the drought we're in, but I'd have preferred the rain to come more gradually.

Last Night's Storm: It Could Have Been Worse

Sometime between 1 and 2 in the morning today, I heard an enormous clatter. It was as if someone had thrown a king-kong-size garbage can or a load of metal siding into the street.

This morning my wife told me, as she was leaving to mind the store for her father, that a shed had blown over near Lake Wobegon Trail. That's what she saw, in the first and second pictures. Despite its appearance, it isn't a shed. It's part of a roof, I think. It could have been worse. As far as I have heard, no one was hurt.

Several yards near the intersection of Ash and Lake Wobegon Trail in Sauk Centre had debris deposits and broken branches.

Finding where the bits and pieces of building came from wasn't very hard. A neighbor of mine pointed out where the most damage had been, but I think I'd have been able to follow the trail of broken trees, crumpled metal, and cracked timber.

Seeing what happened to the trees, I'm glad the event missed the houses and housing in that part of town. I've heard two explanations of what happened: it was a small tornado; or it was straight-line winds, something like a downburst. Just how the storm re-arranged part of Sauk Centre will be discussed for a while, most likely.

The worst damage seems to have been at a car dealership, John Weis Ford.

• Mr. Weis's new body shop lost part of its roof
• Light poles are bent - one all the way to the ground
• Quite a few vehicles are damaged
• His lot won't be ready for use until the mess is cleared away

I'm pretty sure he has insurance, but this is going to hurt.

By the time I got there, a couple guys, one armed with a monkey wrench and tool belt, were starting work on the worst of the light pole damage.



This was around 10:30. Cleanup and repair were already underway.







Meanwhile, just west of the car dealership, folks one of the apartment buildings on Fairlane Drive were driving around a tree that had tipped onto about half of a driveway.

Back on the south side of John Weis Ford, the new body shop obviously needed 'body work' itself. It looked like a work bay on the east side was still in working order, happily.

Clouds off to the northwest promised a chance for more exciting weather, later today. The U.S. Weather Service bears that out. Can't say that I'd mind a little meteorological boredom, at least for today, but there's not much I can do about it.

There was some damage in the residential areas. That modern art sculpture, behind the pool in a back yard near Lake Wobegon Trail, was a trampoline yesterday. Again, it could have been worse. Another few yards to the east, and those folks would have had more fresh air in their house than they'd want.

By the way, have you noticed how much those new above-ground pools look like the old-fashioned cloth-bottomed ash trays?

You'd think that, with parts of a building ripped off and strewn across a thousand-foot swath, trees uprooted and branches torn away, this old branch would have been broken off: But no, Minnesota storms didn't finish the job this time, just like they left the work half-done before.

Storm Watch, Sirens, and a Drill

It started getting dark outside around noon, here in Sauk Centre. About an hour later, we had heard thunder and saw that severe thunderstorms are predicted in a swath that starts somewhere beyond Nebraska, runs square over us, and ends up in Canada.

Then the sirens went off.

Odds were pretty good that this was the monthly test, but my wife pointed out that this would be good practice.

Down to the basement. We saw that there wasn't any severe weather near us: not even heavy rain.

So, back to our usual routines. That was a good drill, though.