A Winter Storm Warning is in effect.
It’s not just for Sauk Centre, Minnesota, although we’re pretty close to the center of today’s banana-shaped weather event. I gather that we’ve already gotten most of the snow we’re going to get this time around.
“Snow likely, mainly before 2pm. Cloudy, with a high near 22. East wind around 15 mph becoming north. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.”
(Extended Forecast for Sauk Centre MN / National Weather Service)
Even so, the W. S. W. is still in effect until midnight.
I get the impression that the National Weather service has learned from past mistakes, and realizes that the common folk don’t panic all that easily:
…A high-pressure air mass tangled with its low-pressure counterpart over Nebraska on June 7, 1953. The June 7th storms weren’t particularly memorable.
But one tornado on June 8th killed 116 folks. The body count was 247 by day’s end.
That photo shows part of Flint-Beecher, Michigan, after the storm passed.
What’s sad is that many of those deaths were most likely avoidable.
Officials at the National Weather Service knew that tornadoes were likely when the storm started ripping through New York state.
Folks in the New England area aren’t accustomed to twisters, though, so the powers that be didn’t issue a warning.
The official decision was, apparently, well-intentioned. Decision-makers at the Weather Service didn’t want common folks to panic. They did, however, issue the first severe thunderstorm watch in Massachusetts history….
(“Sane Environmentalism”, Stormy Weather (August 11, 2017))
And a lifetime here in the Upper Midwest tells me that even the trailing edge of weather like we’re having now makes situational awareness a useful survival skill.
It also tells me that, although we’ll probably still have snow on the ground for Christmas — that’s not guaranteed. It’s like a character in “Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures”, or maybe another of those animated series, said about weather back home:
‘We get thunderstorms, blizzards, tornadoes, but we never let it spoil our Fourth of July!’
(one of Barbie’s friends, in one of those animated series: Maybe “Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures”)
Maybe our familiarity with this region’s variable climate explains the Sauk Centre school system’s decision to go ahead with classes today, after a two-hour delay this morning.
But we’re among the few around here that didn’t simply tell the kids to stay home: and that’s another topic or two.
Now I’m going to get a cup of coffee, sit in an easy chair by the window, and be glad that I don’t have to go outside until Sunday. Right after I list other times I’ve talked about the weather, including last year’s end-of-Advent:
- “It’s Cold Here, Too: Sauk Centre, Minnesota”
(January 13, 2024) - “Frost, Smoke: Another Spring Day in Minnesota”
(May 13, 2024) - “A Substation Gone and a Dam in Trouble: This Year it’s Flooding”
(June 25, 2024) - “Happy Lille Julaften and Fourth Sunday in Advent”
(December 24, 2023) - “Power Failure Last Week, Now Equipment Failure”
(August 2, 2023)
