With the official start of summer on June 20, it’s a good time to review the importance of heeding bad weather conditions and warnings.
On Sunday night, there were tornado warnings issued in parts of Stearns, Benton and Sherburne counties, and tornado-warning sirens blared loudly in many cities. Because tornadoes are fairly rare in Minnesota, unlike in the “Tornado Alley” states like Texas and Oklahoma, it’s easy for us Minnesotans to forget they can and do happen, and we must be prepared for their possibility.
A “Tornado Watch” is when the weather forecasters advise people that conditions are favorable for the possible formation of tornadic weather.
A “Tornado Warning” is broadcast, often with a wailing siren, that a tornado or rotational cloud formation has been sighted somewhere in the general area and that people should seek shelter immediately. When a tornado warning is issued, people should not dawdle and wait around, looking up at the sky to try to see a funnel cloud. They should take shelter, preferably in the middle room of a basement or in the innermost room of a house, such as a small bathroom toward the center of the house.
June through August are the most likely tornado months in Minnesota, although they can occur as early as March and as late as November.
The largest tornado outbreak in Minnesota was June 17, 2010, when 48 funnel clouds were spotted in clusters. From 1950 to 2012, there were 1,721 tornadoes reported in Minnesota, 99 tornado-related deaths and 1,981 injuries.
The worst tornado disaster occurred in the St. Cloud-Sauk Rapids-Rice areas when 72 people died, including members of a wedding party in rural Rice, including the groom who had just said his vows. The date was the afternoon of April 14, 1886.
The second deadliest outbreak was in the Fergus Falls area on the afternoon of June 22, 1919 when 57 people were killed and 200 injured. In more recent times, better weather forecasting and warnings have prevented deaths, with only about one or two fatalities per year in the state. But – this bears repeating – people must learn to heed the warnings and take immediate shelter.
And not to forget, there are other weather dangers besides tornadoes. Strong straight-line winds can be devastating, injuring or killing people with debris driven by the fierce winds and demolishing roofs and, in some cases, entire homes, especially mobile homes.
Another danger is large hail that can cause much damage and even serious injury.
Yet another cause for concern is lightning. People should always go inside a house or other protected structure when the skies are streaked by lightning. One should never seek shelter under a tree in a bad lightning storm. Lightning often “seeks” the highest thing in a landscape, such as trees, and there have been instances of lightning splitting trees wide open, and injuring or killing people who’d run under the tree for shelter. That is what killed several people on a golf course in the Twin Cities some years ago.
Parents should gather children together and impress upon them what to do when bad weather approaches. They must not dawdle and delay but come directly home from wherever they are or seek shelter in their friends’ homes or other shelters if a storm strikes when they are playing in parks, ballfields or wherever.
Let us be safe this summer; let’s heed the weather warnings; let’s seek shelter with a healthy better-safe-than-sorry attitude.
