Minnesota weather is part of daily life, and it brings with it many “extremes.” This collection presents some of those…from the floods of the Red River Valley, the blowdown in the BWCA, the Halloween Blizzard, to the devasting tornado in St. Peter. But were a state of many meteorological dimensions, not just tornadoes and blizzards. Below are memories of oppressive drought, the creep of flood waters, nature driven fire, and those glorious 50-degree December day anomalies. While these stories may attempt to explain the why, where, and what of various weather events, what is striking is the undeniable power of the human experience in the face of it all.
June 29, 1998 - MPR’s Art Hughes reports on multiple storms causing havoc in southeastern Minnesota. An uncommon weather scenario flooded homes and roads in a weekend filled with heavy rains, high winds and rapid-fire lightning in southeast Minnesota.
July 10, 1998 - One more house was demolished in St. Peter. It was old...built in the 1860's...and in need of restoration, but still, it was someone's home until the March 29th tornado. MPR's Lynette Nyman interviews the owner, Tom Gravelin, as she follows him through the recovery. His business is back up...while his home has finally come down. Frequently referred to as the 1998 Comfrey–St. Peter tornado outbreak, 14 tornadoes (including an F3 & F4) wrought destruction in southern Minnesota on March 29, 1998. More than 3,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed by the tornadoes. The towns of St. Peter and Comfrey were utterly devastated. Storms left two people dead and dozens injured.
July 20, 1998 - A severe thunderstorm moved through St. Peter July 20th, 1998, downing trees and damaging roofs, with winds of 60 miles an hour. MPR’s Lynette Nyman interviewed Tom Gravelin on the impact this has on his life and how he plans to rebuild.
November 10, 1998 - Mark Seeley, University of Minnesota meteorologist and climatologist, discusses Minnesota's long tradition of nasty blizzards that have marked Veteran's Day/Armistice Day over the decades, and Minnesota weather lore.
November 10, 1998 - MPR’s Mark Steil reports from Worthington, detailing stranded motorists and power outages as a blizzard moves through Minnesota, with up to a foot of snow.
November 27, 1998 - MPR’s Eric Jansen reports on the unusually warm temperatures for this time of year, which brought Minnesotans out by the droves into the sunshine, enjoying weather some describe as more like spring than fall. People in Minneapolis were blading, biking, running and strolling around Lake Calhoun.
December 1, 1998 - Craig Edwards, meteorologist in charge of the Chanhassen office of the National Weather Service, talks about mild winter weather and record breaking temperatures. It reached 68 degrees at the Twin Cities airport this afternoon, breaking the old high of 57 set in 1962.
December 15, 1998 - MPR’s Bob Kelleher reports from Duluth, where the temperature soared close to 50 degrees on December 14th. This fell just short of a 100-year old record. Few seemed to mind the sunshine and distinct lack of ice or snow.
December 28, 1998 - On Sunday March 29th a huge storm tore across more than 60 miles of south/central Minnesota. The storm took out much of the small town of Comfry. Then, around 5:30 pm, an F3 tornado, carrying winds of up to 206 miles per hour, smashed through St. Peter. Two people died--one, a boy just six years old.
March 9, 1999 - Matt Davis, a forecaster with the National Weather Service, says March 8th snowstorm set a record. The storm blanketed much of the Midwest and dumped 16 inches of snow in the Twin Cities.