November 10, 2000 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer interviews meteorologist Mark Seeley about the Armistice Day Blizzard of 1940. The storm brought strong winds which averaged over 25 mph for a 24-hour period and gusted over 60 mph. Rain turned to sleet and snow in the late morning on November 11th, and worsened to blizzard conditions very rapidly, as snowfall rates approached 4 inches per hour. The air temperature fell by as much as 40 degrees over 24 hours and inch thick ice coated poles and phone lines, breaking many of them. 49 Minnesotans perished; many duck hunters caught off-guard by the storm.
November 20, 2000 - Some owners of gas stations and convenience stores around the state are getting nervous as Wal-marts and Sam's Club stores begin selling gas at discount prices. Nationwide, nearly 2,000 discount stores and supermarkets sell gas, but so far Minnesota has seen only skirmishes in this latest assault in the gas wars. Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports.
November 21, 2000 - Duluth's Great Lakes Aquarium, open since August, has lost its education director and two board members in a controversy involving a major funder. The flap started with a newspaper opinion piece by the education director opposing a power line proposed by Aquarium backer Minnesota Power. The controversy is heating up, just as public hearings on the line get underway in Wisconsin. Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports. Andrew Slade had been with the Great Lakes Aquarium for eight years during its planning and development. He designed and ran its educational programs. He's also a guest columnist on environmental issues in the Duluth News-Tribune. His September column criticized the proposed powerline, saying the environment would be better off if consumers reduced their electricity use, and power companies would develop solar and wind energy.
December 4, 2000 - A public hearing in Superior Wisconsin today (Mon Dec 4) will give people a chance to sound off on a controversial powerline proposed between Duluth and Wausau. Its the latest in a series of hearings begun last week along the line's proposed route. Opponents of the project say they're encouraged by a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources report saying no one has shown a need for the line. Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports. { The two companies proposing the line - Minnesota Power and Wisconsin Public Service - say Wisconsin's power grid desperately needs new high voltage lines to bring power into the state. Right now, only four lines import power, three of them from the south. When demand is high, or when a storm knocks out one of the lines, the system could fail and the entire region could be blacked out. Minnesota Power's Jim Roberts says it's part of a nationwide problem.
December 7, 2000 - L-T-V Corporation is closing a Minnesota iron mining operation earlier than expected. The Cleveland-based company says its L-T-V Steel Mining Company located in Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota will close February 24th. L-T-V had planned to keep it open through the middle of next year. L-T-V says the mine can no longer provide it with taconite pellets of competitive quality and cost. This is the latest in a series of recent setbacks to Minnesota's iron mining industry. Ann Glumac is the President of the Minnesota Iron Mining Association. She says the health of the industry in Minnesota is directly tied to the health of the U-S steel industry.
December 8, 2000 -
December 8, 2000 - Environmental groups are calling on Congress to reform the Army Corps of Engineers in the wake of a Pentagon report confirming the Corps doctored numbers in a feasibility study of expanded locks on the Mississippi River. Critics say the Corps of Engineers is too quick to back massive engineering projects. But farm groups say they NEED bigger locks on the Mississippi to reduce their shipping costs. Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports. For more information about the controversy over expansion of locks and dams on the Mississippi go to minnesotapublicradio.org to see our series called "Changing Course: The Future of the Mississippi." {
December 15, 2000 - Mark Seeley talks about the warm up from last week's frigid temperatures.
December 20, 2000 -
December 22, 2000 - Mark Seeley, climatologist and meteorologist at the University of Minnesota, talks about the weather trends of the past year and predictions for the year to come.