Category Archives: Weather/Skywarn

Articles relevant to weather, and Skywarn in general.

The Rice County Skywarn Streaming Channel is now live!

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A fun side project I’ve been working on! Using the OBS Broadcaster, PowerShell, Batch Scripting, and a program that launches it all on a rotating time schedule!

Original Post:

The Rice County Skywarn Streaming Channel is now live!

Thanks for all your feedback regarding our Streaming Channel on Youtube! Hearing dozens of positive comments, and working out some kinks and adding some new functionality, it’s ready for full-time consumption!

https://youtube.com/@RiceCoSkywarn/live

This is YOUR local weather feed, perfect for the corner of your monitor, your tablet, your Google Home, or digital signage.

You’ll find:

– The latest Level 3 radar imagery (including velocity radar during time of severe weather) centered around Rice County, with storm reports plotted during severe weather events.
– Scrolling weather alerts and weather forecasts straight from the National Weather Service, tailored for Rice County.
– Current time, temperature, and rainfall storm totals and rain rate for Faribault displayed in the corner of the video.
– Upper Midwest GOES-East Satellite Loop with Precipitation Depiction.
– Local webcams showing current outdoor conditions (if you run a full-video webcam in Rice County and can offer an RTMP feed, we’d like to hear from you!)
– Skywarn Activation Status
– Pop-up alerts for extreme weather conditions such as Severe Thunderstorm Warnings, Tornado Warnings, and Blizzard Warnings.
– Of particular interest to spotters, the Day 1 convective and mesoscale outlooks, including possibilities of tornadoes, severe hail, and severe wind conditions.
– All over a bed of music, with old-school “Weather Channel”-style voice announcements (all mutable).

Besides a few national guys, NO ONE that we know of is doing this style of presentation, and we’d love to hear your input and ideas on how we can make this something you’ll enjoy on a daily basis. We appreciate your support!

Free training for new Skywarn storm spotters offered in person, virtually

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Wow, we got a great article promoting the upcoming Skywarn training classes in the Faribault Daily News!

If you haven’t been re-certified in a while, now is your chance! Sogn Valley Skywarn is offering 2 in-person classes in Goodhue and Kenyon, and another virtual class. Read about them at Rice County Skywarn at https://skywarn.us/training

The full Daily News article is right here:

IF YOU GO

There are three training sessions planned by Sogn Valley Skywarn so far this year. All are always free, and participants who complete the course get a bumper sticker and guide book for storm spotters.

The first in-person session is from 6:30-9 p.m. March 24 at the Goodhue Fire Department, and the second in-person session is 9-11:30 a.m. March 29 at the Kenyon Fire Department. Registration is not required for the in-person sessions.

Registration is required for the virtual session, which is planned for 6:30-9 p.m. April 1. Signup and additional information is available at Sogn.us, and registration opens March 18.

Future dates could be added later. To stay aware of any future dates that might be added, go to Skywarn.us/training or visit the Rice County Skywarn page on Facebook. Go to www.meted.ucar.edu/education_training/course/23 for a virtual self-paced Skywarn class at any time.

Nice cloud rotation

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Nice cloud rotation nearly right overhead tonight as a line of thunderstorms moved through!

It must have been an associated downburst that caused a LOT of mature tree damage in North Alexander park, and over by the King Mill Dam. Power was out in the northern part of Faribault for about 4 hours.

Faribault Woolen Mill Dam failure and subsequent patching

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The City of Faribault, Minnesota – City Government Facebook wrote:

DAMAGE TO DAM: City of Faribault crews are currently working to stabilize flood-related erosion on the north side of the dam located next to the Faribault Mill, south of Slevin Park.

While the full extent of damages will not be entirely clear until water fully recedes, what can be seen has called for the need to stabilize the area and to prevent additional erosion.

The State has been notified, as is general practice in situations like this, and we’re encouraging everyone to avoid the area. Please do not proceed beyond barricades and/or police tape within Slevin Park.

There is no immediate public risk, and this erosion doesn’t appear to be as concerning as the Rapidan Dam situation, but with more rain in the forecast, the City – with help from partnering agencies – will continue monitoring the erosion.

Faribault, MN – Straight River Flooding Scene – The Next Day

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Faribault Scene as of 7 a.m. 6/22 – 2nd Avenue Road Closure near the Fairgrounds, Cannon River Reservoir at Father Slevin Park, Straight River/Cannon River Reservoir at the Faribault Woolen Mills, Straight River at Fleckenstein Park, Urban flooding near the American Legion, River flowing over Union Pacific Railroad, Straight River at Teepee Tonka Park, Lowland flooding in Frogtown, 14th Street Trail Flooding, River near new floodwall at Waste Treatment Plant.

“Trapped by a Tornado”, KSTP’s Dave Dahl, April 26, 1996

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We’ve learned a lot about tornadoes in severe weather in the past 28 years, and thus I’m posting this primarily as a “what never to do” video. There are several quotes and pieces of video in these clips that will give any modern storm chaser anxiety.

1:45 – Chasing on an Interstate highway, with no easy way to change directions 90 degrees if necessary. Seeking shelter from a tornado under a freeway overpass (never do this, please).

4:30 – More of the above.

6:00 – Even more of the above, with innocent video crew.

6:26 – Putting yourself in a situation where you need to lie flat in a ditch as a last ditch shelter.

6:48 – “Are we OK?” “Yes, we’re fine. I’ve been doing this for a long time. I’ve been doing this for 19 years watching this stuff. Never been this close.”

7:22 – “In a car, Get out, get away from the car, lay flat in the ditch, and that’s exactly what we did. And we stayed safe.”