Blogging the weather

There’s more serious weather in the region tonight, so we’re patrolling in search of tidbits.

9:39 a.m. — Via Twitter, Twin Cities Red Cross reports three more disaster volunteers are heading for Iowa.

9:29 a.m. – Flooding in your area? How about taking a picture and sending it?

9:18 a.m. MPR listeners Mike Jorgenson and Kathy Draeger write:

We farm in Big Stone County Minnesota on the western edge of the state. We had flash floods here yesterday. 1/3 of our farm is still under water. Crops are lost.

SE Minnesota isn’t the only place suffering from extreme rainfall events. Big Stone County saw the most flooding yesterday that this area has seen since the 1960s.

Our community is tuned in to MPR–Appleton station. Please keep our news in the news. pictures at Resettling Big Stone County .

Go ahead and click the link but as of 9:20 a.m., it appeared to be down. But as long as we’re on the subject, there’s a good profile of the two correspondents here.

8:59 a.m. — Courtesy of MPR’s Tom Weber, here’s a link to the Sioux City Journal blog on the Boy Scout camp deaths. Solid information provided.

(Thurs) 8:12 a.m. — Worthington Daily Globe has a few pictures of tornado damage at a farm near Fulda. The Rochester Post Bulletin has a single picture from Lanesboro flooding; kids in a youth mission group helping a family clean up a mess. Fillmore County has posted flood information here.

10:34 p.m. – Severe thunderstorm warnings dropped for western ‘burbs. Looks like Twin Cities have been spared. Looks like the Wisconsin Dells are going to get hammered overnight, though.

10:33 p.m. – Looking back at the Old Farmer’s Almanac prediction for Upper Midwest weather from last November to this October:

Summer temperatures will be near normal, on average, with much-below-normal rainfall.

It predicted rainfall here 2″ below normal in June. Also it said June 7-17 would be “sunny and seasonable.” How’s that working out where you are?

Nice try.

10:29 p.m. – Rainfall so far today in St. Paul: .68″ . Rainfall so far this month in Caledonia: 4.86″. Average monthly rainfall for June in Caledonia: 1.38″.

10:04 p.m. – WCCO viewer submitted an interesting “sideways” tornado picture near Sleep Eye. A very similar series of pictures, this time from Springfield, shows up on KARE Web site. The same person also submitted the images to KSTP. Clearly showing no favorites. Did I mention News Cut would love to get your weather photos? We’re partial to pictures of bocce-ball sized hail.

9:59 p.m. – Twin Cities Red Cross Twitters (Tweets?) that they’re standing by in case their services are needed. Three local volunteers were dispatched to the floods in Iowa today.

9:56 p.m. – Sound of thunder emanating from the cities hits the Woodbury bureau. Faithful dog gets “dryer sheeted.” Again.

9:52 p.m. – Paul Douglas’ blog says 1″ hail in Carver County but no tornadic activity. Given all the hubbub when Douglas was fired at WCCO, does anyone else find it odd that nobody ever seems to comment on the blog and when someone does and asks a question, Paul never responds? Oh, and I still don’t “get” what I’m looking at when I look at the graphics.

9:40 p.m. – What would it take to cause flash flooding in the Twin Cities? According to the National Weather Service, about 3 inches of rain over a 6-hour period ought to do it.

9:36 p.m. — Storms are moving into the western ‘burbs. A tornado watch is up, a severe thunderstorm warning is up, too. See the National Weather Service Twin Cities page. And we’re going to get some heavy rain.

9:34 p.m. — Fulda, Jefferson, Sleepy Eye have all reported tornado spottings this evening, but the most distressing news is coming out of western Iowa where a Boy Scout camp apparently was hit by a tornado. At last report, four are dead and 40 hurt.