Well, I didn’t have to wait too long to test out some of our severe weather protocols. Tuesday night provided a prolonged opportunity to make sure all our weather information receiving equipment and radio equipment was working.
Weather started moving in shortly after 5:00 p.m. and liked Northfield so well that it just stopped and hung around, literally. I went home at 2:00 the next morning after it looked like the rest of the night would serve up wind and rain but no more. The Tuesday storms serve as a good reminder of the unpredictability of weather. The initial storm that was to pass through Northfield by 8:20 p.m. just stopped for no reason and regenerated over and over again right above is. We watch the storm on the RADAR take an almost animated right-angle turn to just keep hovering around Northfield. Another rapid moving storm moving through the Dakotas was destined to continue to move northeast into Canada before reaching Minnesota, or so we thought. Around 11:30 p.m., that storm stopped made an abrupt right turn and headed straight east..you guessed it toward Northfield.
A number of us worked in the Northfield EOC (emergency operations center) last night. Tim Isom, our Emergency Management Director, Jeff Ringlien our property technician and defacto dispatch expert, CSOs Kris Wilson and Josh Malecha were in and out to see if we needed anything as well as Sergeant Ted Berg and Officers Steve Klostermeier, Rich Bailey and Kevin Tussing who got soaked several times dealing with vehicle accidents and checking potential flood areas of the city for us.
We also were assisted by a number of members of the Northfield Police Reserve and Northfield Area HAM radio operators. All of our volunteer weather spotters are the eyes and ears that verify what we see on the RADAR screen and what we hear from the National Weather Service. Between 5:00 p.m. and Midnight on Tuesday, we received .75 of an inch of rain with most of it coming in about 20 minutes.
I list all this information because without all the many volunteers and staff we have at the Police Department, it would be next to impossible to develop the intelligence information needed to accurately track potential and real storms. They are the key to providing adequate warning time to Northfield residents.
In addition to our local folks, we are in constant communication with both Faribault and Rice County emergency management centers as well as Lonsdale spotters since a lot of our severe weather gets to Lonsdale and follows Highway 19 right into Northfield.
The message in my previous blog still hold true. Have a severe weather plan just like you should have a fire plane for your residence and business. Be prepared…stay alive.