NICOLLET — The side of his garage was blown out, a tree uprooted onto his mother’s house next door and huge patches of the roof torn off at the Brent Blank’s home a couple of miles south of Nicollet.
“I just got home from work and I watched it because I saw it coming up across the field,” Blank said. “And I saw this twirling, going up and down, and then it came down and I went to the basement.”
Blank said it’s not the first time their home has been hit. He lost a farmhouse to a large storm that went from his house toward St. Peter years ago.
In less than two hours late Wednesday afternoon, south-central Minnesota was slammed with tornadic activity.
The National Weather Service received seven reports of tornado sightings at different locations.
Some of those sightings might have been of the same tornado, according to meteorologist Eric Ahasic. The first tornado reports started just before 5 p.m. near Nicollet. There were sightings one mile east, three miles south and one mile south of the city, Ahasic said.
By about 5:30 p.m. the northbound storm had reached the New Sweden area in the north-central part of Nicollet County. There were tornado sightings one mile north of town and another three miles to the north.
By 6:15 p.m. the storm had reached the Gaylord area in Sibley County. A tornado was reported one mile northwest of Gaylord and another sighting reported two miles north of Winthrop.
Just north of New Sweden, a tornado toppled the barn at 55334 481st Avenue, leaving live exposed electric wires and trapping the homeowners in the nearby house until it was ruled safe, according to the Nicollet County Sheriff’s Department.
Firefighters from Lafayette and other towns, police and electric crews were out on the property, working in the rain to turn off the power.
Ahasic said Wednesday’s turbulent weather was not a total surprise to the National Weather Service in Chanhassen, although the amount of tornadic activity was not predicted.
“We certainly knew heavy rains were on the way for the afternoon. We weren’t expecting this many tornadoes. This storm had zero percent hail and zero percent high winds. It definitely was a tricky forecast.”
Ahasic said wind conditions — despite low velocities — were favorable for a storm that was very efficient in producing tornadoes. “We had deepening low pressure. Winds will spin into low pressure.”
Ahasic said the style of the storm is not totally rare but is uncommon. There is one indicator meteorologists have learned to recognize. “You get a burst of lightning just before the storm. Then the clouds really start to spin.”
The storm that moved through Nicollet and Sibley counties was not a super cell, the destructive force that hit the area in 1998.
“There was some damage, but this storm was not as strong.”
Nicollet County is asking residents to notify the Sheriff’s Office if they have any structural damage from the storms by calling (507) 931-1570.
Staff writers Kristine Goodrich, Brian Arola and Edie Schmierbach contributed to this story.
by The Free Press
August 16, 2017
