A camera on a mast located on top of Jefferson Elementary School in Faribault, Minnesota pointing north captures the high wind event that caused damage throughout Southern Minnesota on September 20, 2018.
These were likely straight-line winds but the National Weather Service is still surveying the aftermath a week later.
A Tornado Just Hit Faribault.
The National Weather Service did its job tonight extraordinarily well. The Rice County Emergency Management and Dispatch sounded the alert sirens quickly. Our Skywarn social media posts went out immediately. These sources gave everybody in Rice County at least 15 if not 20 minutes of warning before the tornadoes came through.
Things are a mess around here. Bethany and I are OK, and our part of town had more tree damage than anything. This is the only damage I had.. a single piece of front fascia hanging down. It is absolutely nothing compared to several families dealing with losing their homes or businesses tonight.
West of Faribault is like a scene out of “Twister”. Corrugated metal hung up high in trees. Roofs of sheds laying in unharvested fields. Halves of silos gone completely. Trees through people’s living rooms. Horse trailers laying on their roof in the ditch. Recreational Vehicles tipped over like Hot Wheels at LeMieux’s Resort.
North of Faribault, not many hangars are left without major damage at our Airport. MetCon has structural damage to their building. The freeway, closed down because of vehicles tipped over and debris littering the roadway.
I’ve never seen this kind of devastation around the Faribault area. This is going to be talked about for a long time.
A YFZ450 trying to give chase to two Can Ams at Hurricane Hills MX, Mazeppa, MN
I attempt to keep up to a couple of fast Can Am guys at Hurricane Hills on my YFZ450. Eventually, I’m just along for a joy ride of my own. 🙂
A nice group of quads at Hurricane Hills MX, Mazeppa, MN
A decent quad turn out, and all of us are giving chase. All Can Am except for one YFZ450. That would be me.
High-Resolution LED Display Graphics
Since the time these high-resolution LED displays were installed in the Nomeland Gymnasium at the High School, I’ve been spending much of my spare time designing graphics, sponsor advertising, and program workflow for the system. It has already been used successfully for several volleyball matches, 9th grade orientation, and now an all-staff District workshop. The variety of technology I get to work with is one reason I love my job and this field!
YFZ450 chasing behind a YFZ450R at Hurricane Hills MX, Mazeppa, MN
A “C” class view of riding the track at Hurricane Hills motocross park in Mazeppa, MN, right behind a guy with a YFZ450R.
A Tour of the National Weather Service Office in Chanhassen
As Rice County Skywarn is a Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador, we got the opportunity to tour the National Weather Service in Chanhassen today! We talked to the meteorologists that forecast our weather and do such a good job updating the public over social media, without sensationalism. At 6 p.m., we watched a weather balloon launch with a radiosonde which measures temperature, humidity, and pressure all the way up to 100,000 feet. The data is used to create the models we use each day to predict the weather. The staff was so accommodating, informative, and polite! Afterwards, we stopped by Lion’s Tap for supper. It was a great afternoon away from the office!
Big Island Retrospective
As we take a moment to look back at our relaxing and enjoyable week on Big Island, I am left with several thoughts:
1) Why do I always get a pat down and a groping from the TSA whenever passing through airport security? EVERY time I get scanned, I turn around and see two big red squares on the screen where my balls should be. I know you may think this feeds my ego as the scanner detects steel and other metals, but this really just slows down the line. I wonder if TSA precheck will exempt me from the upper inner thigh check I receive as part of my vacation package.
2) You’re nothing on the islands unless you drive a Toyota Tacoma with a minimum of a 3″ body lift.
3) The Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk is potentially the worst vehicle I’ve ever driven, and that’s saying a lot coming from a previous owner of a 1978 Plymouth Volare’. When going up a slight incline with cruise control on, it can’t even keep speed. It won’t downshift to a more powerful gear, and you have to floor it to get back up to the cruise speed. I needed 90% throttle to keep 35 MPH speed up an 18% grade going up a mountain. I thought the newer Dodge Dart was the worst rental I’ve ever had, but this thing takes the cake.
4) Mauna Loa last erupted on March 25, 1984, nearly destroying the city of Hilo. 34 years earlier in 1950, it also erupted, destroying the village of Hoʻokena-mauka. Following this pattern of 34 years, it could erupt again on Sunday. I sure hope getting out of the car twice on Mauna Loa to take a whiz behind the car door didn’t anger the volcano Gods too much!
5) The best food is ALWAYS at the rundown looking food stands. Bonus points for having the Department of Health ahead of you in line… because he is hungry.
6) You won’t hit a deer on a road in Hawaii, but goats, donkeys, mongoose, and the elderly are all fair game.
Mahalo (thanks) for joining us on our journey! 🤙🤙🤙
Poor Sears
Poor Sears. They are shutting down another 100 stores as their businesses continue to fail. Sears was perfectly positioned to monopolize computer-based sales since they had a 100-year head start with their mail order business.
Before almost anyone had Internet, CBS, IBM and Sears joined forces to create an online service called “Prodigy” in 1984. This actually allowed people to purchase things from Sears on their home computer some 10 years before Amazon was founded. Unfortunately, their vision was just too early as most people had to pay long distance phone charges to connect in addition to the monthly subscription.
In the mid to late 90s when Internet became more popular, Sears was gun-shy about investing more money into the same idea. Unfortunately, this would be the beginning of the end since Sears never really did innovate again.
Enjoy this commercial for the Prodigy online service from 1990.