December 21, 2001 - It's looking like Minnesota will get a white Christmas after all. A developing winter storm is on track to bring snow to most of the state by tomorrow evening. Bill Harrison is a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Chanhassen. He says the storm is centered over the Rockies right now:
December 27, 2001 - A year ago, Minnesota Iron Mining employed nearly 45-hundred workers. By the year's end the number has dropped a third. Northeast Minnesota is reeling from a double punch: the national recession, and a steel industry in crisis. The fallout is spreading well beyond the 14-hundred households of displaced iron workers. It's hitting some of the region's most vulnerable residents. Mainstreet Radio's Bob Kelleher reports: For background on Minnesota's iron mining industry, and how it has changed, visit our website, www dot Minnesota Public Radio, dot org.
December 28, 2001 - Longtime state senator Sam Solon died this afternoon in Duluth. Solon was known as a champion for Northeastern Minnesota. He had been battling liver cancer for nearly a year. Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports. {
December 28, 2001 - Meteorologist and Climatologist Mark Seeley, on the weather. MPR's Morning Edition, Dec 28, 2001 Topic: Preliminary Climate Summary for December 2001 Following the warmest November on record statewide, December
January 3, 2002 - The mild winter is putting stress on at least a third of Minnesota's lakes. The state's shallow lakes need severe winters to kill their fish populations. Last winter sent lakes into a deep freeze, and DNR officials were hoping for a repeat performance this year. Nicole Hansel-Welch is shallow lakes program coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. She says partial freezes only kill predator fish, which upsets the lakes' delicate balance:
January 7, 2002 -
January 7, 2002 - Skiers and snowmobilers are grumbling at the lack of Minnesota winter snow, but that's good news for some winter sports fans…like ice boaters. Mainstreet Radio’s Chris Julin found some of those chilly boaters out on Duluth Harbor.
January 8, 2002 - Today's warm weather is one for the record books with highs reaching the upper 30s to the upper 50s across much of the state. University of Minnesota Climatologist Mark Seeley says many records were broken.
January 9, 2002 - Rainy Lake is a favorite for swimming and fishing, but it is no longer safe for ice fishing and snowmobiling. The January ice is looking like March ice this year. It lost two inches of ices within eight hours.
January 16, 2002 - If it seems like it's been a particularly warm winter, you're right -- it has. So far, the Twin Cities hasn't recorded a single day below zero all winter long. University of Minnesota meteorologist Mark Seeley says it's been nearly half a century since truly frigid days were so hard to come by in the first half of winter in the Twin Cities. In the winter of 1954-55, the Twin Cities didn't record their first subzero day until Jan. 15. And the area hasn't had a single