December 31, 2003 - Aid agencies estimate that around 100-thousand people were left homeless by an earthquake last week which was centered near the ancient Iranian city of Bam. The Minneapolis-based American Refugee Committee is gearing up to help. ARC's Vice President Joe Bock is making final preparations to go to Iran, where he'll assess the situation and decide whether a team should follow. He says he'll be looking for ways the organization can help displaced people.
December 26, 2003 - Based on state averaged annual temperature and total precipitation, Minnesota recorded a warm and dry year in 2003. The statewide mean annual temperature of 42 degrees Fahrenheit falls in the warmest 20 percent historically, while the statewide average total precipitation of 22.25 inches falls in the driest 20 percent of historical years. These are not particularly memorable statistics, but in the details of the weather this past year, we do find some features that will be long remembered.
December 19, 2003 - The National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center released an updated winter outlook on Thursday of this week. Based on trends of recent years, they forecast the January through March period in Minnesota to be warmer than normal. Over the same period, they see equal chances for precipitation to be above or below normal.
December 10, 2003 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer interviews Tony Bouza, former Minneapolis police chief, on his thoughts about the hiring of a new police chief. According to Mayor Rybak's PR people, the mayor will release names of finalists for the job of police chief in Minneapolis. They anticipate six or seven finalists. Tony Bouza discusses the process, including benefits of hiring outside the department. He also speaks of hiring a black or female police chief.
December 5, 2003 - A scientist and former meteorologist was studying the language of elephants in the wild, and especially their mating calls. He found that the females emit an extremely low tone long sound wave mating call at certain times of the year, but they wait to do so typically until sunset or shortly after. These sounds can be heard by male elephants from as far as 10 miles. He inferred that elephants were using their meteorological knowledge in two respects 1 sound travels much farther over a landscape when there is a temperature inversion colder, denser air near the surface and this is often the case shortly after sunset; 2 surface winds often subside and calm after sunset and therefore permit sound to be detected at greater distances not having to compete against the aeolian sounds of the wind. In addition, sounds of longer wavelength tend to travel farther in the atmosphere than high pitched short wavelength sounds. On the other hand, perhaps elephants are simply in a more romantic mood after the sun goes down.
November 28, 2003 - Tis the season for shopping... good will... and the Nutcracker ballet. Here in Minnesota, dozens of groups, all over the state, will perform the Nutcracker this holiday season. Some will be traditional.... like the annual performance by Minnesota Ballet which opens in mid-December. Others, like the Ballet of the Dolls' "Nutcracker Not So Suite," take an unconventional approach. Jennifer Fisher is a professor of dance history at Pomona College and the University of California, Irvine. She's out with a new book called "Nutcracker Nation: how a Russian ballet became a Christian Ritual in the New World." Fisher says the Nutcracker... which is one of the big Tchaikovsky ballets... premiered at the end of the 19th century in Russia... and was a good candidate to become popular in the United States.
October 31, 2003 - Preliminary Climate Summary for October. It appears that mean October temperatures will range from 1 to 3 degrees F warmer than normal for most communities around the state. Temperature extremes during the month ranged from just 13 degrees F at Embarrass back on the 2nd, to 90 degrees F at Milan on the 7th and at Browns Valley on the 7th and the 20th..the latter being a new all-time state high temperature for that date.
October 30, 2003 -
October 24, 2003 - The string of warm days earlier this week produced a number of high temperature records for individual communities, but perhaps the most remarkable record occurred on Sunday, October 19th when Browns Valley, MN Traverse County reported 90 degrees F. A temperature this high is most unusual for the second half of October, and was indeed a new state record high for October 19th, breaking the old record of of 88 F at Milan in 2000 and at Winona in 1950. There have been only five other years in Minnesota history, when temperatures of 90 F or higher have been recorded in the second half of the month they were 1910, 1927, 1947, 1950, and 1958. October 30, 1950 at Canby, MN marks the latest fall occurrence of 90 degrees F in the state. But the rest of this October looks to be colder than normal around the state.
October 23, 2003 - The Franklin Community Library is the oldest of Minneapolis' 14 neighborhood libraries. It closed on Wed (Oct. 22) for a renovation and redesign. It's located at 1308 East Franklin Avenue. -- It's been designated an historic site by the Heritage Preservation Commission. At first, the plan was to close the library for 18 months during the renovation. But, thanks to a big community effort, there's now an interim site. On Thursday (Oct. 23), they will celebrate the Grand Opening of the Interim site, which is located nextdoor. The Friends of Franklin, a group that has taken on the challenge of raising 18 monhts of operating funds for the interim site, has raised enough to cover the cost of relocation and the first several months of service. Contributions have come from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans (60 thousand), the Minneapolis Empowerment Zone (25 thousand), and the Frey Family Foundation (20 thousand), as well as gifts from area residents.