Monday evening brought storms that extended across the state, but few felt the effects like folks northeast of Big Lake.
An EF1 tornado was located around 5:50 p.m. and brought with it 107mph winds, wreaking havoc and destruction to many homes in the area.
The tornado was the earliest in Minnesota’s history, with the previous tornado dated March 18, 1968, located north of Truman. Monday’s EF1 didn’t just touch down; it went for over eight miles, starting near Ann Lake and spanned 300 yards, leaving homes destroyed and folks without power. No one was hurt or killed by this wicked storm.
Monday's tornado was triggered by a strong low-pressure system that pulled a sliver of warm air to the north in the Midwest. Minnesota had a similar early-season tornado almost five years ago on March 19, 2012, when an EF0 moved along a seven-mile path near the town of Elysian.
Connexus Energy reportedabout 2,300 people in Zimmerman and Baldwin Township lost power due to the severe weather.
Joycelyn and Eric Walberg live near the intersection of Co. Rd. 15 and 4 located north east of Big Lake, which was right in the path of the storm. Joycelyn, her daughter Cassi along with Cassi’s fiancé Cody Baragar were home at the time of the tornado.
When Cassi and Cody saw the sky was starting to turn grey and looked really strange, they decided it was time to put their vehicle in the barn, and by the time they got it parked and got back inside it had started to hail. Cassi told her mom “We never get hit,” so Joycelyn joked that she had jinxed them.
At the time, Eric was on his way home from work and when he reached the intersection of Hwy 10 and Co. Rd. 15 he decided he needed to turn around to avoid driving right into the storm. Eric ended up back in Rogers where he waited out the storm.
After Cassi and Cody parked the truck and made it into the house they realized it was time to get to the basement. As Joycelyn, Cassi and Cody were sitting in a small room with one tiny window they could hear what sounded like a train.
Joycelyn said as she looked out the window she saw a tree snap and was worried the window was going to blow out.
After about five minutes, all three went upstairs to see what kind of damage had occurred. As they looked outside they noticed that the top of their barn was torn off and tin from the roof had been tossed into the field. Joycelyn said they were very lucky their home had hardly any damage with only a few shingles missing.
With the power out, Eric’s brother brought over a generator which they use until nine o’clock the next morning, when power was restored.
In Minnesota, tornadoes have occurred every month from March through November with the month of June having the highest number of tornados. Nearly three-quarters of all tornadoes in Minnesota have occurred during the three months of May (15%), June (37%), and July (25%).
June 2010 was the year of twisters in which there were 71 tornados with 48 occurring in just one day. The old record was 27 on June 16, 1992 that included an F5 tornado at Chandler.
