Global Warming means more severe weather more frequently, something
the denialist spammers want you to think will begin safely after your
lifespan is over. It's happening now, already, and yes it is true that
not every event can be positively traced to global warming, but the
ripid-fire hordes of extreme events en masse can be.

http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandf...ws/6247739.htm

Posted on Mon, Jul. 07, 2003

MN WEATHER: Storms, tornadoes move through area
No damage immediately reported
By Dale Stensgaard
Herald Staff Writer

A cold front moving through the area sparked severe thunderstorms and
tornadoes in northwest Minnesota early Sunday and again Sunday
afternoon and evening.

No damage was immediately reported from the storms as of midevening
Sunday.

The National Weather Service issued severe thunderstorm warnings early
Sunday morning for Polk and Red Lake counties of Minnesota and Sunday
afternoon and evening for Beltrami, Cass, Douglas, Clearwater,
Hubbard, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake of the Woods, St. Louis and Wadena
counties.

A tornado warning was issued Sunday afternoon for Koochiching County
after a funnel cloud was reported west of Birchdale, Minn.

Another tornado warning was posted early Sunday evening for southern
Beltrami County after weather service Doppler radar indicated a severe
thunderstorm with strong rotation six miles west of Solway, Minn., or
about 18 miles west of Bemidi.

A wall cloud, a precursor to a tornado, also was reported with that
storm.

About the same time, another tornado warning was posted for northern
Beltrami County after a severe thunderstorm with strong rotation and a
wall cloud was spotted six miles southeast of Ponemah, or about 33
miles north of Bemidji.

Hail of 1 to 1.75 inch in diameter was reported with the storms in
Beltrami, Clearwater, Koochiching and Lake of the Woods counties.

Wind gusts of up to 70 mph were possible with some of the storms, the
weather service said.

Another tornado warning was issued at midevening for southern Otter
Tail County, Minn., after a severe thunderstorm with strong rotation
was spotted on radar nine miles southwest of Clitherall, Minn.

A tornado watch was in effect for much of northern Minnesota until 10
p.m. The watch also covered extreme southeastern North Dakota.

Some northwestern counties of Minnesota were taken off the watch area
about midevening, but much of the rest of the state was put under a
tornado watch until 2 a.m. today.

The line of thunderstorms that caused the bad weather was moving to
the southeast into central Minnesota at midevening.

Rivers dropping

Meanwhile in the southern Red River Valley, the Buffalo River at
Dilworth and the Red River in Fargo finally dropped below flood stage
after earlier rising following recent heavy rains.

The forecast

Cooler and drier weather is forecast through midweek after the cold
front and storms move through Sunday.

Highs are expected to be in the 70s today through Wednesday.

There's another chance of thunderstorms in the area Wednesday night
and Thursday morning, and again Saturday afternoon.

Highs Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be in the low 80s.

Sprayers' windfall

Recent heavy rains in eastern North Dakota have put aerial crop
sprayers in demand.

Dave Gust, who owns a Fargo spraying business, said this year has been
his busiest season since 1998. He has been applying fungicides to
small grains crops and spraying bean fields too wet for ground
sprayers.

Joel Hashbarger, who owns a spraying business in Hope, N.D., said he
had about 9,000 acres waiting for him to spray recently. Typically, he
said, he and another pilot have only about 2,500 acres to spray at one
time.

Barnesville, Minn., sprayer Gary Jerger said he would never wish bad
weather on anyone, but rain does give him more business.

"I've got a service to provide, and when it's wet and it's hot, then
we're busy," he said.