Tornadoes to Twinkies ... What?
All,
Well so much for more frequent updates, huh? Lots going on as usual. First, we had a big tornado up here back on July 11th. This was from what we call a low-precipitation (LP) supercell. In other words, the storm had little in the way of rain or hail and the cloud base was high. This allowed for many people to see it because it was just south of the town of Willmar, which is 15,000+. So many people photographed and video-recorded it. No, we don't approve of that from the non-trained spotters, which I'm sure most of these people were. However, it was spectacular footage. I had the opportunity (fortunate and unfortunate) of interrograting this storm on radar and being part of the damage survey. We rated the damage as an EF-3 with winds between 135-150 mph. There were two minor injuries, which was not horrible considering the strength of the tornado. There were hundreds of turkeys killed as the tornado destroyed two turkey barns. Feathers littered it's path. Some pictures:
Tornado Photo Courtesy of Spotter Joyce Nokleby
Damage Survey Photos From Tornado:
Convergent corn damage
Major tree damage with little left to a split-level house. Family survived in the basement.
Two by four projectiled into the windshield and dashboard of this truck.
Other news...the night before that tornado and the night of it, Mendota/Sublette/Amboy saw a massive amount of rain, possibly the most in many of our lifetimes in 48 hours. Below is a rainfall estimate from the NWS Romeoville office:
That's rainfall estimates of 6-10 inches in 48 hours. Now the radar can overestimate rainfall in certain situations, with one of the most common being "hail-contamination". This was not the case with this situation though as most of the storms had rain only and did not contain highly-reflective ice. That was an incredible amount of rainfall! Here's a picture of the flooding across the street from my family's home courtesy of the Mendota Reporter:
The basement took 4-6 inches of water in, but we didn't have too much damage.
Finally, and much more exciting (yes even than weather!) was that my good friend and avid sweetcornforecast.com user Slim visited in Minnesota. As did all his family, due to their family reunion being up here. We all went to the Twins/Rangers game, in which the Twinkies dominated, shutting the Rangers out with only 3 hits. Yes, I am becoming...actually have become, a Twinkies fan. Sorry Cubbies. No offense White Sox. Tigers and Guider, lots of offense. But it's true. Here are some pics from the DOME:
Slim, Myles, and me. Look at Myles with the thumbs up! Definitely the coolest "Miles" I know!
The Schroeders ... and one more!
Great time with the Schroeders. Thanks Slim and 'Keshia! The roller coaster summer continues, and definitely on an upswing right now. We are at 17 days until the Greatest Show on Earth, so I only expect the ride upwards to continue. Regarding the last post and the new cell ... well it's been ordered and it may get here in time for the SCF. If not, heads will roll. Although, I was the one who tossed my phone in the washer, so who's to blame?!
The smell of corn is in the air from the 'Sota to the 'Dota! mmmbooyah!
MTF
Well so much for more frequent updates, huh? Lots going on as usual. First, we had a big tornado up here back on July 11th. This was from what we call a low-precipitation (LP) supercell. In other words, the storm had little in the way of rain or hail and the cloud base was high. This allowed for many people to see it because it was just south of the town of Willmar, which is 15,000+. So many people photographed and video-recorded it. No, we don't approve of that from the non-trained spotters, which I'm sure most of these people were. However, it was spectacular footage. I had the opportunity (fortunate and unfortunate) of interrograting this storm on radar and being part of the damage survey. We rated the damage as an EF-3 with winds between 135-150 mph. There were two minor injuries, which was not horrible considering the strength of the tornado. There were hundreds of turkeys killed as the tornado destroyed two turkey barns. Feathers littered it's path. Some pictures:
Tornado Photo Courtesy of Spotter Joyce Nokleby
Damage Survey Photos From Tornado:
Convergent corn damage
Major tree damage with little left to a split-level house. Family survived in the basement.
Two by four projectiled into the windshield and dashboard of this truck.
Other news...the night before that tornado and the night of it, Mendota/Sublette/Amboy saw a massive amount of rain, possibly the most in many of our lifetimes in 48 hours. Below is a rainfall estimate from the NWS Romeoville office:
That's rainfall estimates of 6-10 inches in 48 hours. Now the radar can overestimate rainfall in certain situations, with one of the most common being "hail-contamination". This was not the case with this situation though as most of the storms had rain only and did not contain highly-reflective ice. That was an incredible amount of rainfall! Here's a picture of the flooding across the street from my family's home courtesy of the Mendota Reporter:
The basement took 4-6 inches of water in, but we didn't have too much damage.
Finally, and much more exciting (yes even than weather!) was that my good friend and avid sweetcornforecast.com user Slim visited in Minnesota. As did all his family, due to their family reunion being up here. We all went to the Twins/Rangers game, in which the Twinkies dominated, shutting the Rangers out with only 3 hits. Yes, I am becoming...actually have become, a Twinkies fan. Sorry Cubbies. No offense White Sox. Tigers and Guider, lots of offense. But it's true. Here are some pics from the DOME:
Slim, Myles, and me. Look at Myles with the thumbs up! Definitely the coolest "Miles" I know!
The Schroeders ... and one more!
Great time with the Schroeders. Thanks Slim and 'Keshia! The roller coaster summer continues, and definitely on an upswing right now. We are at 17 days until the Greatest Show on Earth, so I only expect the ride upwards to continue. Regarding the last post and the new cell ... well it's been ordered and it may get here in time for the SCF. If not, heads will roll. Although, I was the one who tossed my phone in the washer, so who's to blame?!
The smell of corn is in the air from the 'Sota to the 'Dota! mmmbooyah!
MTF
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