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 21, 1983 - MPR’s Bob Potter talks with Byron Paulson, of the National Weather Service, about heavy rainstorms rolling across central part of state.
February 8, 1984 - MPR’s John Biewen reports on concerns over National Weather Service’s response to a blizzard that struck Minnesota and South Dakota region on February 4, 1984. Congressman Arlan Stangeland questions why NWS did not issue a blizzard warning sooner.
July 17, 1986 - MPR’s Mark Steil looks back to the month of July in 1936, when Minnesota suffered through an oppressive heat wave. Steil interviews residents in southern Minnesota that endured the extreme temperatures.
August 8, 1986 - MPR’s Mark Steil reports on massive hailstorm that pounded farmland in Lincoln County. Steil interviews famers about the damage from softball-sized hail.
November 11, 1986 - MPR’s Loren Omoto talks with William H. Hull, author of “All Hell Broke Loose: Experiences of Young People During the Armistice Day 1940 Blizzard.” Hull details the time period and recollections of those that lived through the storm.
July 24, 1987 - MPR’s Mark Heistad interviews meteorologist James Campbell about the storm that parked over the Twin Cities, bringing torrential rain and a tornado. Campbell describes it as a 100-year event.
July 24, 1987 - MPR’s Stephen Smith reports on a tornado that touched down in Maple Grove during the July 23rd rainstorm that encompassed the Twin Cities. Smith interviews residents and the Maple Grove police chief.
July 24, 1987 - MPR’s Mark Heistad interviews meteorologist Bruce Watson about what created the conditions for the massive amount of rain that fell on the Twin Cities on July 23, 1987. Watson describes the intensity of rain in six-hour period as something that happens about every 5-10,000 years.
June 7, 1988 - MPR’s Tom Meersman reports on the troubling conditions facing farmers as drought conditions set in across many areas of the state. Meersman interviews farmers and officials about the potential impact.
June 14, 1988 - MPR’s Dan Olson talks with local climatologists about the patterns that led to extreme drought and what might change to break the dry conditions.