2 dead as tornadoes batter parts of Minnesota

2 dead as tornadoes batter parts of Minnesota

Mary Lynn Smith
Minneapolis Star Tribune
June 17, 2010


A large funnel cloud touches down west of Albert Lea, Minn., early evening Thursday.

Minnesota's first tornadoes of the year ripped through western and southern Minnesota Thursday, killing two people and
leveling a broad swath of Wadena and damaging numerous homes and farm buildings across the state.

An elderly woman from the small community of Almora in Ottertail County died during the storm and her husband was taken to the hospital, said David Hauser, Otter Tail County attorney and spokesman. He didn't know the man's condition late Thursday night. "We know that there are several other people who were injured," Hauser said.

Multiple tornadoes and funnel clouds also raked Freeborn and Faribault counties in southern Minnesota. Buildings and other property near Kiester and Walters, Minn., in Faribault County, along the Iowa border, were badly damaged. County Commissioner Tom Warmka said Kiester had been closed to traffic because live power lines were down in the streets. An 8-mile stretch of Hwy. 22 was also closed and many farms in the area were damaged, he said.

In Conger, about 10 miles west of Albert Lea, Jannelle Fisher heard reports of four tornadoes on the ground in the area. One struck a nearby hog lot, taking a barn and letting loose up to 3,000 pigs. The power was out in town, but Fisher and Janelle Behr were hearing that rural areas southwest and northeast of town were hit hard.

Wadena Mayor Wayne Wolden said the storm wiped out about a quarter of his town and left about 20 people injured. "Dozens and dozens of homes are flattened. Part of the roof on the high school was ripped off and thrown across the street. The high school is damaged. The community center is gone," he said.

Luckily, the sirens in town alerted residents before the storm hit; otherwise there might have been more injuries. He and his daughter stayed in the basement as the sirens blared and the storm passed overhead. It took just three minutes, he said. "I heard a train just like they say," Wolden said.

When the storm passed, he noticed his home lost only a few shingles. "But my neighbors lost their homes."

Wadena is directly north of me about via a 30 minute drive.

Isn't it a little early for Tornado season?

The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:Isn't it a little early for Tornado season?

Naw, right on track. May and June are the worst months from Texas to Minnesota. Minnesota gets most of them in June than in May due to temperature deviations.

The big wedge tornado shown in the picture at the the top of the post. That thing was huge! You'll see a couple tiny ones spawning around it's edges........

The Wadena tornado (north of me).

I watched this on the Weather Channel. They usually have crews out where the weather is, and because it's tornado season, for the past month or so, their people have (sometimes) teamed up with the "real" tornado chasers and then broadcast it to the viewers. And I must say, as I've been interested in weather for as long as I can remember, it's actually quite interesting and informative. What I mean is, basically people are still trying to figure out the "thing" that makes a thunderstorm go bananas and produce a tornado - and here they were about a month ago (in eastern Colorado?), watching a supercell begin doing it's thing - and showing it on television in real-time... Anyway, at first it just showed a dark cloud lowering from a much bigger cloud (i.e. the wall-cloud dropping down from the main storm). Then they said, 'Well, it looks good. We'll see what happens.' And then it dissapated. Then it re-formed and dissapated and then went through several more cycles. Then at one point while the guy (near the storm) was talking, the people back in the studio told him to turn around because they saw a funnel cloud forming behind him - and within seconds, a tornado! So at that point (for the first time ever), everyone watching the storm had gathered data from the beginning of a storm to when it forms a tornado. They said it would take months to sift through all the data. I love stuff like that. Now having said all of that of course, I'd rather not be anywhere near a tornadic storm. I don't even like your average thunderstorm (which here in Texas can be pretty vicious). I sure don't want to be anywhere near something like that.

Yeah, these weather patterns are interesting. I like watching stuff on that myself. I remember all the bad weather in North Texas all those 25 years i was in DFW. The patterns are different there compared to Minnesota. For one thing, it's far more humid in the spring and summer here than in DFW. I know Houston gets pretty humid. Been there a few times myself.

Btw, yesterdays tornado activity was a state record; 39 in one day were officially sighted in Minnesota.

I saw one when i was a kid growing up here. It was just west of Mankato, Mn which is where the Vikings training camp is. It never touched down though. But i remember it like yesterday for some reason. I was 5 yrs old and still recollect that.

I spent a week in Minneapolis back in July 1990 and one night I was watching the 6PM news and they were talking about severe weather in eastern Montana, and to expect it to arrive in the early morning hours... Being as at that time I was still in New Mexico (where "severe weather" is a dust-storm or some snow), I thought, "Montana? Get real! That's 700 miles away. It'll never make it here." So of course, around dawn I was rudely awoken by thunder and lightning everywhere - and being as I was in a pretty tall hotel (can't remember which), that made things even worse. I swear the buildings were like lightning rods. Didn't like it one bit. But also on the same trip, I spent some time in Wisconsin (to say that I've been there) and while in La Crosse, I bought a lottery ticket. Four days later I had to go back there - to cash it in. I hit four of six numbers giving me 50 dollars, which took me to a Twins game.

Yeah, the weather gets crazy here at times. The flow is different, i guess. I'm no meteorologist, but it has something to do with the Rockies, for instance. The weather in Texas is affected by how the air flows off those peaks compared to nothing getting in the way where i'm at. North Dakota is flatter than a board.

Weather Service rates tornados that hit NW Minn.

Associated Press
June 20, 2010

WADENA, Minn. - The National Weather Service has determined that three tornados packing winds or more than 170 mph hit northeastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota on Thursday.

The most damaging was the Wadena tornado, with peak winds estimated at 170 mph and a trail of destruction a mile wide and 10 miles long. It caused extreme damage to a residential area and hurled several school buses hundreds of feet through the air.

The tornado that hit the Almora-Bluffton area in Minnesota had winds up to 175 mph and did damage along a path 1.3 miles wide and 36 miles long. It obliterated several homes and businesses.

The twister that hit Holmes, North Dakota, had peak winds estimated at 185 mph. It moved primarily through rural areas, but severely damaged a few structures.

The weather service is still investigating other tornado reports.