weather | Minnesota Prairie Roots

Time to exit Minnesota, Old Man Winter April 19, 2013

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 1:47 PM
Tags: Faribault, Minnesota, snow, thoughts, weather, winter

THURSDAY EVENING, instead of following the yellow brick road to the Emerald City, I closed the curtains on a snow globe world.

Wintery weather caused Faribault High School to cancel its opening performance of “The Wizard of Oz” musical, much to my dismay. I was looking forward to the temporary evening escape into a magical world far, far away from snowy Minnesota.

It was not to be.

Rather, I was stuck in my snow encased house (OK, I’m being somewhat dramatic here), curtains drawn.

The beautiful view of my backyard this morning with about four inches of new snow on the ground.

This morning, when I drew back the curtains, a beautiful snowy landscape unfolded before me.

“It’s pretty,” I remarked to my husband after glimpsing the woods adjoining our backyard.

A portion of the unshoveled sidewalk by my house, which I cleared of snow this morning.

A portion of the unshoveled sidewalk which I cleared of snow during morning “rush hour” on Willow Street.

Not so pretty were the driveway and the sidewalks. More shoveling. More blowing of snow.

My husband cleared snow from our driveway and that of a neighbor before leaving for work in Northfield.

Honestly, I just want the snow to stop, for Old Man Winter to take his final bow, exit and allow Spring to take center stage.

Truly, on April 19, is that really too much to ask?

A defiant Old Man Winter promises more snow for the weekend when all I want is for the snow to STOP.

BONUS SNOW PHOTOS, if you really want to see them:

I should be using this wheelbarrow in my backyard, not photographing it covered with snow.

My next door neighbor shovels his driveway, left, on Tower Place before 8 a.m.

I shoveled my way to the front steps to retrieve The Faribault Daily News.

Comments (14)

Be gone with thee, Winter, to Georgia (or somewhere like that) April 10, 2013

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:00 PM
Tags: humor, Minnesota, snow, spring, weather, winter

I VOWED THAT I would not write about the weather today.

High schoolers jog past my house this afternoon in temps hovering around freezing and with a fresh layer of snow on the ground.

But then runners jogged past my house around 3:30 p.m., which prompted me to grab my camera. One shot led to another and soon I was slipping on my shoes, treading across the icy patio with my camera tucked inside my sweatshirt (so as not to get rain on my camera) to stand under the roof overhang (so as not to get rain on my camera) to photograph my backyard.

Why?

Because my backyard landscape is white and I cannot stand this anymore, this undefeatable Winter who keeps sneaking through the door of Spring.

I awoke this morning to snow covering the landscape, as shown in this scene of my backyard and the woods adjoining it.

“Get Thee out of my yard, out of my city, out of my state!” I want to stomp and scream at Winter. I never use exclamation points, which emphasizes just how adamant I am.

I do not want to hear of sleet or freezing rain or snow accumulations. I want to slam the door on Winter.

I do not want to read another text message from my second-born who awakened to no power this morning due to a severe ice storm in northeastern Wisconsin which left 23,000 Appleton area customers without power.

I do not want to hear about air traffic issues like those experienced by my eldest and her fiancė whose flight from Denver to Minneapolis was delayed last night by snowy/icy weather and then rocked by severe turbulence over Nebraska and South Dakota.

And I do not want to read a “glad it’s you and not me” message tagged “Time for planting” and emailed this morning by reader Brad, who grew up in Minnesota and worked for the National Weather Service for 33 years.

Brad writes:

Don’t want to rub it in, BUT….

82 degrees today in Georgia and we are going out to buy a few tomatoes and pepper plants.

Be safe with your spring blizzard!

Uh, yeah, Brad, maybe I’ll plant snow peas and iceberg lettuce.

Comments (24)

Thankful he’s back in Fargo & not stranded along I-94 March 18, 2013

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 10:01 AM
Tags: blizzard, Fargo, Interstate 94, Minnesota, North Dakota, North Dakota State University, road closures, road conditions, thoughts, travel, weather

FOX 9 news at 8 a.m. shows just how bad the current weather situation is in Minnesota.

FOX 9 news at 8 a.m. shows just how bad the weather situation is in Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin. Fargo is located above the B in “Blowing.” Faribault lies 300 miles to the south and east along Interstate 35, in the eastern edge of the blizzard warning.

ALREADY SATURDAY AFTERNOON his dad and I were urging him to call Brittany, his ride back to North Dakota State University.

“You need to leave early on Sunday,” we suggested to our 19-year-old. We’d heard the weather forecast for snow and strong winds, creating blizzard conditions. “If you don’t, you’ll end up stranded in some town along I-94 because they’ve closed the interstate.”

He listened. Brittany listened. They left at 10 a.m. Sunday, picking up three other NDSU students en route, arriving six hours later in Fargo. They beat the snow and the wind, if you can ever beat the wind in North Dakota. Many times our son has declared, “It’s a good day in Fargo when the wind doesn’t blow.”

FOX 9 news at 8 a.m. today lists the I-94 and other western Minnesota road closures.

This morning I-94 between Alexandria and Fargo is closed as persistent wind gusts of 40-50 mph sweep through the region creating those white-out conditions, making travel impossible. Along other sections of that interstate, especially in the Stearns County area, the Minnesota Department of Transportation has tagged travel as hazardous.

This morning NDSU is closed. I expect the son is sleeping in.

Even though I’d love to have him home for an extra day of spring break, I’m relieved that my boy is tucked safe inside Johnson Hall. Better there than 300 miles away in Faribault and all of us worrying about how he would make it back to Fargo for classes tomorrow.

You see, always at the back of my mind niggles the memory of a horrific crash along icy I-94 west of Alexandria on February 20, 2012, which killed four young women from Minnesota, all students at NDSU.

TELL ME ABOUT weather and travel in your area. How bad is it out there?

Comments (36)

Snow removal in my Minnesota neighborhood February 23, 2013

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 8:54 AM
Tags: Faribault, life, Minnesota, neighborhood, neighbors, shoveling snow, snow, weather, winter

About to begin shoveling the driveway.

“HOW MUCH SNOW did we get?” I asked my husband upon arising Friday morning. I had no desire to bundle up and head outdoors to shovel the sidewalk and driveway. Again.

He guessed about five inches.

“I don’t feel like shoveling.”

“You don’t have to. I’ll blow it out when I get home.”

And so I felt a tinge of guilt, making the mail carrier and the few pedestrians in my neighborhood plow through the snow. But at least school wasn’t in session and kids wouldn’t be trudging through the snow, too, packing it down.

The first scoop of snow.

But then, around 2 p.m., the next door neighbor barreled down the sidewalk with his snowblower blazing a trail past our house and then back a second time to clear an even wider path. That Ken did this simply out of the goodness of his heart pleases me.

Up the street, a kindly soul opened the driveway and sidewalks of another neighbor whose property my husband typically clears of snow.

Moving right along…

Across the street, the neighbor boy attempted to clear the driveway, a seemingly insurmountable job for the little guy. He was giving it his all, for awhile, clearing only a small section before abandoning the task.

Perhaps someday he’ll blaze a trail through the snow with a snowblower.

Or maybe he’ll just give up and move to Florida.

Comments (13)

Just how bad is the weather in the Fargo area? February 11, 2013

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 8:37 AM
Tags: blizzard, Fargo, humor, North Dakota, thoughts, weather, winter

THE TOP 10 REASONS a Minnesota mom concludes the weather is really bad in Fargo:

10) The West Fargo Police Department’s business office closes on Sunday due to “potential extreme weather conditions” and reopens today, “weather permitting.”

9) Four foot high drifts block ramps along Interstate 29 on Sunday.

8) A law enforcement rescuer of stranded motorists finds himself stuck on an I-29 ramp and in need of rescue.

7) Several minutes of live video cam footage in downtown Fargo on Sunday show nearly as many pedestrians as vehicles (which are few). One (of the pedestrians) is a skier.

6) Interstate 94 closes between Jamestown, N.D., and Alexandria, Minnesota, a distance of approximately 200 miles.

5) My son, in his second semester at North Dakota State University in Fargo, texts at 3:15 p.m. Sunday that “It’s pretty bad up here.”

4) West Acres, a West Fargo mall which does not open until noon on Sunday due to North Dakota’s Blue Law, closes at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. An employee of Helzberg Diamonds writes on the mall’s Facebook page: Its obviously bad outside. Clinics are also closed. If people can’t get medical help, you don’t need to shop.

3) The National Weather Service Office in Grand Forks issues this Monday morning forecast (in part) in its blizzard warning for the region:

NORTH TO NORTHWEST WINDS AT 25 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 40 MPH WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THIS MORNING. BLOWING SNOW WILL REDUCE VISIBILITIES TO NEAR ZERO AT TIMES…ESPECIALLY IN OPEN AREAS.

2) No travel is advised on Sunday. In Fargo.

1) My son, who thought his snow days ended upon graduation from a Minnesota high school, gets a snow day. Classes are canceled today at North Dakota State University. I text him with the news at 9:15 p.m. Sunday.

His response: Yeah

Comments (21)

Battling winter in Fargo February 5, 2013

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 8:02 AM
Tags: cold, Cold War, Fargo, humor, North Dakota, weather, wind, winter

A sign along a city street welcomes us to Fargo, North Dakota, from Moorhead, Minnesota, just across the Red River.

A sign along a city street welcomes visitors to Fargo, North Dakota, from Moorhead, Minnesota, just across the Red River. I might change that “city of parks” to “The windy city.” Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.

FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA, is flat. That is a fact.

The wind blows in Fargo. A lot. That is a fact.

Therefore, one could rightly conclude that staying warm during winter in flat and windy Fargo would present a challenge, even to a hardy Minnesotan.

During a recent cold snap, with wind chill readings in the minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit in Fargo, I received this text from my son, who attends North Dakota State University:

This cheap Walmart hat stands zero chance against the Fargo wind.

OK, I am 300 miles away so it’s not like I can run out and buy my boy a new hat. I suggested he take the $20 I’d recently sent and purchase warmer head attire.

Apparently, though, my son did not need my motherly assistance. He’d already gone online the previous evening and ordered a “nice Russian military surplus hat.” Alright, that ought to work in Fargo.

But then he mentioned one minor issue, which may or may not be an issue:

Unfortunately it has the good ol’ USSR sickle and hammer on the front. I’m hoping that I will be able to remove that.

When I expressed my concern about the symbol, he fired back:

We aren’t in the cold war anymore…

Ah, yes, my son, but you are.

Comments (23)

Cold enough for you? January 22, 2013

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 9:30 AM
Tags: Minnesota, school closings, weather, wind chill, winter

I SWITCHED ON the television around 7 a.m., prompted by my husband’s announcement that many Minnesota schools are opening late this morning due to bitterly cold temperatures.

School announcements from a Twin Cities television station scroll across my TV screen this morning.

From north to south, east to west, arctic air has settled into our state, making for dangerous conditions. According to the National Weather Service office in Chanhassen:

VERY COLD AIR REMAINS IN PLACE THIS MORNING WITH HIGH PRESSURE
CENTERED OVER CENTRAL IOWA. TEMPERATURES RANGE FROM THE LOWER
SINGLE DIGITS BELOW NEAR THE IOWA BORDER TO 15 TO 20 BELOW IN THE
ALEXANDRIA AREA. WINDS ARE LIGHT SO WIND CHILLS ARE NULL IN SOME
AREAS…BUT IT WON/T TAKE MUCH WIND WITH THESE TEMPERATURES TO
PRODUCE DANGEROUS WIND CHILLS…PARTICULARLY OVER WRN MN.

I always wonder why the Weather Service prints its warnings in all caps. To emphasize the seriousness of the weather situation?

That aside, if you live in Minnesota, you know it’s cold here. The temp in Faribault was minus nine degrees F when I awoke. Many counties, including my county of Rice, are under a wind chill advisory. Up in International Falls, the self-proclaimed “Icebox Capital of the World,” the wind chill was reported at minus 38 degrees F.

On brutally cold mornings like this, many Minnesota students are hoping for late school starts or closings. With three kids (now grown), I’ve stationed myself many a winter morning in front of the television watching for “Faribault” to scroll across the bottom of the screen.

More school closings on another Minnesota TV station.

It’s interesting to watch that list of names, learning about places and schools I never knew existed, like Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School. This morning I looked up the school online. It’s a magnet school for 200 Native American students living on or near the Leech Lake Reservation in north central Minnesota. Operated by the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, the school is located in the forest outside of Bena, population 109, between Bemidji and Grand Rapids.

Unless I missed it on the school’s website, I couldn’t find a translation of the school’s name, which so intrigues me.

Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School lists its values as love, respect, humility, wisdom, bravery, honesty and truth. That’s an admirable list.

But students there won’t be learning today as the school is closed.

Switching from school closings to the weather, I listened to a report on “Good Morning America” about the cold weather sweeping the nation with wind chill advisories issued in 19 states.

And, as I listened, I jotted down some of the phrases used to describe current weather conditions:

arctic air
dangerous cold from Midwest to East
howling polar winds
blizzard conditions along parts of Lake Michigan
bitter wind chills in places like Fargo, North Dakota

Good morning, readers. How would you describe the weather where you live today?

Comments (33)

Friday night at the car wash January 19, 2013

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 11:47 AM
Tags: art, car wash, life, Minnesota, photo manipulation, photography, photos, stories, weather, winter in Minnesota

HE LEANED ACROSS the front seat of the car, not to kiss me, but to spray Windex onto the passenger side windshield and then wipe the glass dry with a paper towel.

After 30 ½ years of marriage, this is Friday night—a date at a local car wash.

Not that my husband invited me along or even remotely suggested that this might be a date. But at the last minute I decided the car wash would make for an interesting photo shoot. Randy knows me well. He didn’t even question me or roll his eyes.

My first side view shot of the car wash, taken from the adjoining Kwik Trip gas station.

My first side view shot of the car wash, taken from the adjacent Kwik Trip gas station.

While he tended to gassing up the car, I strolled over to the car wash to shoot some exterior scenes before we joined the line of five waiting vehicles. Not bad for a 37-degree January evening topping off an exceptionally warm winter day with temps soaring into the 40s.

When you live in Minnesota, you have to jump on warm weather like this to wash away the destructive road salt that clings to vehicles. A sign at the car wash even states the business will close when temps dip to 10 degrees.

And we all know, because we’ve been hearing for days now from weather forecasters, that Minnesota is headed into the deep freeze. Wind chill advisories have already been issued for parts of the state. Strong winds, combined with air temperatures, will make the outdoor temp feel like 25 to 30 degrees below zero.

We’ve heard repeated warnings about frostbite and hypothermia and the need to protect our skin.

I tell you this to emphasize to those of you who live in much warmer locales and cannot fathom such extreme cold, why Minnesotans would wait in line at a car wash on a 37-degree evening.

While Randy and I waited, he fiddled with his cell phone, inputting the number to an area radio station. He’s good at music trivia or being the whatever number caller, having recently won tickets to a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert and years ago a trip to the Bahamas and the chance to win $1 million (which he did not win).

Waiting in line at the car wash, our car is on the left.

At this point, I stepped briefly from the car to scope out photo ops and shoot a few frames, hoping the other motorists wouldn’t roll down their windows and question me.

Back inside the car, we chatted a bit—about what I can’t remember—and Randy cleaned the interior windshield and eventually the garage door rose, the car ahead began exiting and my spouse directed our car inside.

Now you might think that in the privacy of the enclosed car wash, this could have been a date-date. But, nope, I was too busy photographing the art.

You perhaps see simply a car. I see art in this photo-edited image.

More car wash art.

Not just water spraying on the windshield, but abstract art.

Not just water spraying onto the windshield, but abstract art.

Nearing the end of the car wash art exhibit.

Exiting the car wash (exhibit).

Comments (22)

Instead of “Let it snow,” I’m singing, “Don’t let it snow any more” December 20, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 11:16 AM
Tags: Appleton, blizzard, Christmas, family, Faribault, Interstate 35, Minnesota, Outagamie County, parenting, snow, travel, weather, Wisconsin

An edited scene from my home office window before 8 a.m. today.

WHAT I FEARED MAY OCCUR is currently unfolding across the Midwest. Snow. Lots and lots of snow.

The snow in and of itself really is quite lovely, unless you must deal with it, drive in it.

And that’s precisely the problem. I don’t need to tell you that. I expect many of you, like me, are awaiting the arrival of loved ones for Christmas.

My second daughter, who lives 300 miles away in Appleton, Wisconsin, is scheduled to drive to Faribault on Friday, her first trip back since the Fourth of July. I want my girl home for the holidays.

But…the situation in Wisconsin right now is not good with snow and blowing snow creating hazardous travel conditions. Nor is it good in southeastern Minnesota, where blizzard warnings are in effect for as near to me as Steele County, the county right next to my home county of Rice. We’ve gotten perhaps five inches of snow here in Faribault.

Radio announcers are reporting difficult travel along Interstate 35 south of Faribault on into Iowa. The Minnesota Department of Transportation 511 website confirms difficult driving conditions throughout the southeastern region with words like “snow, drifting snow, blowing, slippery.”

Three hundred miles away in Outagamie County, in which Appleton is located, the sheriff’s department has issued a tow ban on US 41, a major north-south freeway linking cities like Milwaukee, Oshkosh, Appleton and Green Bay. My daughter travels US 41 often in her work as a Spanish medical interpreter. It worries me that she may be sent out to some hospital emergency room in an outlying rural community today.

I realize it does no good to worry. But I am a mother, and mothers never stop worrying about their offspring, even when those children are independent adults. Given last week’s tragic loss of 20 children in Sandy Hook, I think we are all especially emotionally vulnerable right now.

WHAT ARE WEATHER and road conditions like in your area? Has the weather changed your holiday travel plans or those of loved ones?

Comments (32)

In Minnesota: City snow, country snow December 9, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 7:18 PM
Tags: blizzard, city, country, Lamberton, Mears Park, Minnesota, Redwood County, snow, St. Paul, weather, weather reports, winter

Marc Schmidt shot this stunning photo of 7th St. Marketplace in downtown St. Paul early this afternoon.

Marc Schmidt shot this picturesque scene of 7th St. Marketplace in downtown St. Paul early this afternoon.

Ah, winter in Minnesota.

I issued a call earlier today via email for snow reports and I got two, one from the city, one from the country. One came from a life-long dweller of the southwestern Minnesota prairie, the other from a native southern Californian who relocated to St. Paul in October.

Snow layers on patio chairs, rural Lamberton. Photo by Brian Kletscher.

About mid-afternoon today, my middle brother, Brian Kletscher, reported 8 – 10 inches of snow (since Friday evening) at his home just north of Lamberton in Redwood County.

Low visibility due to falling and blowing snow defined the prairie in this photo taken north of Lamberton around 3:30 this afternoon. Photo by Brian Kletscher.

Low visibility due to falling and blowing snow define the prairie in this photo taken north of Lamberton around 3:30 this afternoon. Photo by Brian Kletscher.

But it isn’t the snow total as much as the wind that’s now causing problems in southwestern Minnesota, where a blizzard warning is in effect.

In the blowing snow, the fenceline is barely visible beyond the garden shed in my brother’s yard.

Reports Brian:

It was nice temperature as it was 34 degrees at 1:30 this afternoon. I was moving snow at 1:30 and the wind switched to the northwest at 2:15 bringing more snow and blowing snow into the area. Low visibility at this time.

The Mears Park Stage in downtown St. Paul early this afternoon. Photo by Marc Schmidt.

A snow globe view of Mears Park Stage in downtown St. Paul early this afternoon. Photo by Marc Schmidt.

Several hours to the northeast in downtown St. Paul, my oldest daughter’s boyfriend, Marc Schmidt, is enjoying his first ever Minnesota snowstorm. An apartment dweller with a 12-minute commute to work via the skyway system, he can concentrate on the beauty of the snow rather than dealing with clean-up and travel issues.

Says Marc in a 2:15 p.m. snow report:

I slapped on my Sorels and slushed my way through St. Paul. (To let you know what conditions are like, I got this email the same minute I got an automated email from the city of St. Paul letting me know there is a snow emergency tonight, and it hasn’t stopped snowing since . . .)

Welcome to winter in Minnesota, Marc. Forecasters are predicting several more hours of light to moderate snow for the metro area with snowfall totals of 10 – 15 inches. A winter storm warning continues for the metro and surrounding area.

Snow layers benches in Mears Park early this afternoon. Photo by Marc Schmidt.

Now, let’s hear your snow stories.

The winter wonderland view in my Faribault backyard around 4:30 p.m. today.

We have only about four inches of snow on the ground here in Faribault.

BONUS: My brother sent this photo, proof that Santa is officially preparing for Christmas:

My brother apparently has VIP access to Santa’s wardrobe.

Comments (18)

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Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Time to exit Minnesota, Old Man Winter April 19, 2013

Be gone with thee, Winter, to Georgia (or somewhere like that) April 10, 2013

Thankful he’s back in Fargo & not stranded along I-94 March 18, 2013

Snow removal in my Minnesota neighborhood February 23, 2013

Just how bad is the weather in the Fargo area? February 11, 2013

Battling winter in Fargo February 5, 2013

Cold enough for you? January 22, 2013

Friday night at the car wash January 19, 2013

Instead of “Let it snow,” I’m singing, “Don’t let it snow any more” December 20, 2012

In Minnesota: City snow, country snow December 9, 2012

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An essay of barn photos & memories; In praise of preserving country churches; & Testing the track during a Soap Box Derby trial run in Faribault

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