I went on an outing with 9 other women from our church today. We took off early this morning and drove to St. Croix Falls and we canoed down the St. Croix River for about 7 miles. We took our time and had a picnic lunch a few miles down the river. The weather was warm, but not unbearable. It was fun to get to know some more people from our church.
I dropped my group off at church and noticed that it was starting to get stormy. I thought I should head home.
I headed west and noticed the skies were dark. I noticed one car was pulled off the road. Hmmm…. interesting. Maybe I should turn on ‘CCO. So, I dialed my radio to AM 830. They were talking about severe storms. Some folks were calling in with their eyewitness accounts on storm activity. The weather man on the radio was also talking about severe weather they were seeing on the radar. They said it was a few miles west of Watertown and heading east.
I live a few miles west of Watertown.
I was driving west out of Watertown at that very moment.
I could see a dark wall cloud looming up above just ahead of me. There were some little finger-like clouds coming down out of it. It started to hail a little (I should check the van to see if there is any damage– it wasn’t that bad so I doubt it). So, I’m hearing the people on the radio talking about a possible tornado while driving toward it. I started to pray. I’m not sure why I didn’t stop and get out of my car and lay down on the ground. I just drove faster. I wanted to get past the storm. Sure, I was speeding toward the storm, but that meant it would get beyond it faster. Right? My heart started beating faster as I got closer to the wall cloud. I drove by the polo field and the road turned to the left. I was heading sort of south at that point and the storm was a little farther north. I was past it. Whew!
Then the straight-line winds came. They are pretty strong out on the prairie. I passed a few more cars that were pulled off the road and a number of people who were standing outside with cameras. A few miles later I was safe at home. The storm had come east of Winsted and my family was blissfully ignorant of it. The sirens had never gone off. It’s 5 hours later and my heart still is racing when I think about it.
I’ve had enough tornadoes for this summer.
Here are some photos of the storm system:
http://wcco.com/slideshows/severe.weather.minnesota.20.1810429.html
And from the kstp.com viewer submitted photos:
