Wednesday, April 17, 2013
There will be a statewide drill at 1:45 p.m.
Get ready. Though the snow hasn't yet thawed (and still keeps coming), one hallmark of spring is on the way: Tornado Drill Day. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety has issued an alert to all residents to prepare for a statewide drill on Thursday April 18, 2013, at 1:45 p.m. to give schools, business, hospitals and other organizations a chance to practice their emergency plans. Most counties—but not all—will also conduct a second drill at 6:55 p.m. Don't know what to do?
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
The half mile long twister tore up trees and caused damage to homes and cars.
The National Weather Service has confirmed that a tornado touched down in northern Mendota Heights Saturday. The twister had a half mile long path length near Pickerel Lake and knocked down trees and power lines and caused damage to homes and cars. Leighton Siegel, a Woodridge Drive resident who was adamant that he had heard a tornado that sounded like "an airplane flying through our backyard," felt vindicated by the NWS's announcement. "Thinking back I realize that a number of trees had fallen in different directions which would not have happened with a straight-line wind." The tornado touched down near Lilydale, between Wachlter and Butler Ave, paralleling Highway 13, according to the NWS. (See attached map.) Shawn Finnegan, a Diego Lane…
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
A Mendota Heights resident living near Pickerel Lake said Saturday evening's storm "sounded like an airplane flying through our backyard."
Updated Nov. 14, 10 a.m.: The National Weather Service has confirmed that a tornado touched down in northern Mendota Heights Saturday. The tornado had a path length of about a half mile and landed near Lilydale, between Wachlter and Butler Ave, paralleling Highway 13. --- On Saturday evening Leighton and Dianne Siegel were asleep in their home on the 700 block of Woodridge Drive, by Pickerel Lake, when they were awoken by the thunderstorm that spawned two confirmed tornadoes in Burnsville and Eagan. Leighton Siegel said there was no doubt in his mind that a tornado swept through Mendota Heights. “We were woken up about 11 o’clock, and it sounded like an airplane flying through our backyard,” Siegel said. “I don’t think it could be anything…
A Mendota Heights resident living near Pickerel Lake said Saturday evening's storm "sounded like an airplane flying through our backyard."
Updated Nov. 14, 10 a.m.: The National Weather Service has confirmed that a tornado touched down in northern Mendota Heights Saturday. The tornado had a path length of about a half mile and landed near Lilydale, between Wachlter and Butler Ave, paralleling Highway 13. --- On Saturday evening Leighton and Dianne Siegel were asleep in their home on the 700 block of Woodridge Drive, by Pickerel Lake, when they were awoken by the thunderstorm that spawned two confirmed tornadoes in Burnsville and Eagan. Leighton Siegel said there was no doubt in his mind that a tornado swept through Mendota Heights. “We were woken up about 11 o’clock, and it sounded like an airplane flying through our backyard,” Siegel said. “I don’t think it could be anything…
Monday, November 12, 2012
The tornadoes touched down briefly in Burnsville and Eagan on Saturday night, according to the National Weather Service.
A rare November thunderstorm on Saturday night spawned two weak tornadoes, which touched briefly down in Burnsville and Eagan, according to a National Weather Service storm report. The first tornado spun up northeast of the intersection of County Road 5 and McAndrews Road in Burnsville around 10:58 p.m., according to weather service officials. The tornado, an "EF0" on the Fujita scale, had maximum wind speeds of 80 mph. As the storm cell tracked northeast, the tornado blew down numerous trees and power lines and bent a stop sign all the way to the ground, the weather service said. It dissipated just southwest of the intersection of Burnsville Parkway and Hwy. 11. Seven minutes later, another tornado struck near Skyline Drive east of Hwy. …
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
National Weather Service is tracking a storm moving into the metro.
A tornado watch was declared for Dakota County this afternoon to run through 9 p.m. According to the National Weather Service, there are enough ingredients in place—humidity and spin in the atmosphere—for a few possible tornadoes. Large hail and damaging winds are possible with the storm system.
Monday, June 6, 2011
How do you prepare your kids to react appropriately in emergency situations?
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
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Monday, June 6, 2011
Tornado season is upon us in Minnesota. Maybe your family already has had to camp out in the basement during a tornado warning. But when you take the weather radio and flashlights downstairs, do your kids know what's going on? What would they do if you weren't there with them? Storms and tornadoes are just one of the plethora of emergency situations kids can face. What if, for example, an adult has a medical emergency and the child is the only other person around? Some organizations, like the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have programs geared toward teaching kids about being safe in emergencies; FEMA's provides different web pages and quizzes, which ask questions from whether it's OK to drink flood water, to whether it's best to …
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Sites across the Twin Cities west metro told stories of their communities' experiences.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- Jon Collins
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Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Throughout Sunday's storm and its aftermath, Patch sites in local communities covered everything—through text, video and photo galleries—from the original tornado warnings to efforts to volunteer efforts to help those hardest hit. In St. Louis Park, where the tornado first touched down, Patch wrote about initial damage caused by the storm, as well as a gas leak at a manufacturing plant. The next day, residents told their stories of survival as electricity was restored. In Golden Valley, people told of hiding in basements as roofs flew by their windows. The next day, still dealing with some electricity outages, Patch showed the extensive damage to Theodore Wirth Park and neighboring homes. Fridley suffered tremendous damage on the …
Zac Farber
1:13 pm on Tuesday, November 13, 2012
It sounds like it was likely a "straight-line wind." It's a pretty interesting weather phenomenon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derecho more ›