Podcasts about minnehaha falls

By Alfonzo Galvan | Sahan JournalOn a sunny weekend in August, Brittany Rosas homed in her food options near Minnehaha Falls.Several vendors were offering fruit slices with chamoy and tajin, fruit-flavored water and fried wheat pinwheels also known as chicharrones.As Rosas purchased a cup of lemonade for her two kids and a bag of chicharrones, another customer bought a cup of watermelon for $5 from a nearby vendor.The unlicensed vendors were clustered in the high-traffic area near Sea Salt Eatery — and they kept a wary eye out for park police. None wanted to speak on the record.The vendors began appearing at busy parks and highway medians more than a year ago. Efforts by park police and city officials to issue citations only led them to temporarily retreat. Many are asylum-seekers from Ecuador who don't yet have a permit to work legally in the U.S.The city first attempted to address the issue in 2023, according to Minneapolis Health Department spokesperson Scott Wasserman who said they worked with St. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church holding educational classes on how to become a licensed food vendor.But a year later the problem persists.Now two Minneapolis officials are trying another approach. Council Members Jason Chavez and Aurin Chowdhury are developing an ordinance with city staff that would create a license or permit for food vendors to continue selling while being in compliance with city code.“The reality is that right now, folks are not allowed to do it, and they're getting letters saying to stop doing what they're doing,” Chavez said. “And they're being given routes to get permitted, but the permits that exist wouldn't allow them to do what they're doing.”Chavez said unlicensed food vendors can create health risks if fruit and other food isn't properly prepared. He said he is also concerned about the potential of labor abuses or trafficking.“I think a permit can help prevent that, or at least be a part of preventing them from happening,” he said.Several city departments are currently weighing in. Chavez and Chowdhury met with city staff on Friday to determine the proposed ordinance's next steps.After the meeting Chowdhury said an added goal is to create a support system so vendors can access supplies — including carts that store food at the proper temperature — so they can become eligible for a license.In drafting their proposal, the duo said they have to adhere to state laws on food storage and refrigeration.“The hope is next spring, people have a place where they're able to sell and vend freely. They feel supported by our communities, by local government, and we're bringing more people into compliance,” Chowdhury said.For now, an option presented to some vendors in Minneapolis has been to register for the state cottage food producer permit, based on a 2015 state law that allows people to “make and sell certain non-potentially hazardous food and canned goods in Minnesota without a license.”But Chavez said that's a step in the wrong direction.“That isn't going to address the issue. And people might apply, but it isn't actually going to address the root issue that people are struggling with,” Chavez said.A cottage food producer permit could allow vendors to sell homemade baked goods and pickled fruits and vegetables, but it still wouldn't allow them to operate on city sidewalks or in traffic.The issue is one of “equity” according to Chowdhury, who said some vendors don't have the available knowledge or resources because they're still new to the country.Things like licensing or permit fees become barriers for new vendors trying to become compliant.“When it comes to folks that are immigrants, new to our community, that's an incredible barrier. So if we're going to do economic empowerment, that's the barrier that we want to help resolve and so I'm 100% supportive of waiving these fees,” she said.Claudia Lainez, the workers' center director at COPAL, said the nonprofit organization has been monitoring the growth of street vendors across the metro specifically because many of them are undocumented.She said the majority of vendors tend to be women because men, even undocumented, tend to struggle less to find employment. The women have the obstacle of finding child care and that's why street vending is appealing to them.She said access to information in Spanish is a key barrier for those who might want to comply with local rules. “We have had many cases where people ask ‘What can I do?' But no, this information is not accessible in Spanish,” Lainez said.Since the ordinance proposal is still in the early stages, Chavez said there are still many questions.One is whether to establish fixed locations for vendors. Another is how to limit the number of vendors in a given spot.Chavez said some licensed vendors have told his staff that they're losing business due to increased competition. And a major question the council members have addressed is accessibility to information since the vendors are mostly Spanish-speaking.They've said it's important to make the process simple and easy for future vendors, regardless of legal status.Even without documents like Social Security numbers, Chavez said there would be ways for vendors to apply, such as by using an ITIN, or individual taxpayer identification number, which undocumented individuals can use for tax purposes.The IRS website says even undocumented residents are required to file income taxes every year.Chavez said it's crucial to find a solution that protects public health but also acknowledges the pressures that are pushing recent immigrants to sell food in public spaces.“I'll just center the humanity aspect that these people are just trying to make a living,” he said. Many of the vendors are “literally just trying to pay their rent and pay for their life.”Pushback from licensed vendorsThe presence of the vendors has sparked concern and complaints, especially from licensed vendors.At a Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board meeting in early August, Michael Auciello, owner of Brooklyn Mike's Italian Ice cart, said he was tired of “illegal vendors” coming and opening fruit stands and cutting into his revenue. Auciello said he's seen about a 50 percent drop in revenue this year as unlicensed vendors pushed into city parks.“A lot of the food trucks out there and vendors have given up. They're selling their trucks. They don't want nothing to do with this baloney no more,” Auciello said.According to him, vendors have to buy a daily permit to operate at city parks, and some parks only allow up to two permits. The daily permits are $35 on weekdays and $100 on the weekends.But some days this summer the parks he's worked at have had up to five different vendors, even though the cap was two.He's complained to the Minneapolis Park Police and the Park Board with limited success.Chavez said Minneapolis police officers are no longer giving citations to unlicensed vendors.“They give them a paper with resources, because a lot of them also need more support beyond just being able to sell some food on the streets,” he said.Park Police spokeswoman Robin Smothers said they also haven't given out any citations to any unlicensed vendor but clarified that spotted vendors are not allowed to operate uninterrupted.Auciello said he's seen Park Police confront unlicensed vendors but not escort them away.“Dear God, I wish,” Auciello said. “I think it's not fair to the licensed vendors.”An ordinance passed by the city wouldn't automatically affect how parks operate, according to Chavez.“The Park Board has to make their own decisions on if they're going to allow people at their parks but at city streets we can make a program to allow some of these individuals to be able to sell fruit or whatever we decide with these permits,” Chavez said.The Minneapolis Park Board still has final say on who can sell on their property.Currently, only a mobile food vendor licensed with the City of Minneapolis can apply for a daily permit to operate at the parks.On Friday, Chowdhury said there's been ongoing talks with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.“Our biggest goal right now with MPRB is to be proactive and build a really strong partnership and relationship, because at the end of the day, we want the same things. We want people in compliance and able to be entrepreneurs in our city,” she said.

Listen in for this past week's conversation with Ellis Delaney, live from the bandshell at Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis. We're grateful for our ongoing relationship with Ellis, and are grateful for their leadership these past few weeks. *** Next week, join us at Field Elementary School (our "home" for the fall, winter, and spring) as we kick off the "North Star" series! *** To support this ministry, or to learn more about Fabric, please visit http://www.fabricMPLS.com

It's the local Twin Cities Bluegrass Festival that seems to mark Summer's end. The 25th annual Laughing Waters Bluegrass Festival will be held 1 to 7 pm at Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis, as ever on Labor Day. The free event presents 6 bluegrass bands in a relaxed atmosphere. Matt Johnson, co-producer of the event spoke with Phil Nusbaum about the Laughing Waters festival, and first addressed how performing bands are selected.

Hawk talks Minnehaha Falls, caves, the new Twins TV situation with John Bonnes, and Tommy Olson makes a special Tuesday appearance

Hawk talks Minnehaha Falls, caves, the new Twins TV situation with John Bonnes, and Tommy Olson makes a special Tuesday appearance

Hawk talks Minnehaha Falls, caves, the new Twins TV situation with John Bonnes, and Tommy Olson makes a special Tuesday appearance

SynopsisParents are not supposed to have favorite children. By analogy, maybe composers aren't supposed to love some of their pieces more than others — but they often do.In the case of Czech composer Antonín Dvořák, his little Sonatina for violin and piano was one of his proudest creations. He wrote it for two of his older children, 15-year-old Otilie and 10-year-old Antonin Junior.The Sonatina was composed in 1893 while Dvořák and his family were living in America. In the fall of that year, Dvořák had paid a visit to the Czech community in St. Paul, Minnesota, and while there had visited Minnehaha Falls, a local tourist attraction. After viewing the picturesque little waterfall, Dvořák jotted down a musical idea, a bit of rippling water music that found its way into the Sonatina's slow movement.The Sonatina was finished in New York City on today's date in 1893 — less than two weeks before the premiere of Dvořák's New World Symphony at Carnegie Hall. Despite the tremendous success of that symphony, Dvořák liked to say his proudest premiere was when his children played the Sonatina for him in the family parlor.Music Played in Today's ProgramAntonin Dvořák (1841 – 1904) Sonatina in G; Ivan Zenaty, violin; Antonin Kubalek, piano; Dorian 90171

Authorities shut down the iconic Stone Arch Bridge to avoid a repeat of the chaos and fireworks assaults in the Mill District last July. But crowds migrated to parks like Boom Island, Minnehaha Falls, Lake Nokomis and Bde Maka Ska instead. Social media postings show fireworks being launched directly at police and bystanders. This is an MPR News morning update, hosted by Phil Picardi. Music by Gary Meister.

Since the mid-19th century one of the great tourist destinations in Minnesota has been Minnehaha Falls. Already known for its beauty, its fame intensified when Henry Wadsworth Longfellow immortalized it in his poem "The Song of Hiawatha". But Minnehaha Falls has had a dark side as well. In the late 19th century it became a place synonymous with drunkenness and debauchery. The notorious father and son team of Adelbert and Irwin Gardner (and others) profited from the Minnehaha Midway, where corrupt cops intermingled with inebriated Fort Snelling soldiers and young Minneapolis women. Eventually the low-class dancehalls would be driven out, replaced by the park we know today.My guest is Karen E. Cooper, whose book "When Minnehaha Flowed With Whiskey: A Spirited History of the Falls" has just been nominated for a 2023 Minnesota Book Award. She shares some of the uncouth history of the Falls on this latest episode of Minnesota's Most Notorious. More about the author and her work can be found here: http://www.urbancreek.com/

GOP contender Scott Jenson unveils voucher-like school funding option in 10 point education plan, and one of the state's oldest residential buildings is damaged by fire near Minnehaha Falls. This is an evening update from MPR news, hosted by Tim Nelson. Music by Gary Meister.

Laura Oakes joins Chad and Dave for Overrated, Underrated or Properly Rated to discuss the ability of humans to speak with birds, exclusivity in community biking/walking trails, Minnehaha Falls and much more!

Crisco recently took his nephew to one of Minnesota's favorite and most iconic sites. He was so excited to introduce his nephew to Minnehaha Falls! Well, instead of coming back with great memories that he'll cherish forever, Crisco came back with a strong and very hot take. This inspired us to ask you what are some of the best places to go visit around our wonderful state?

Updated: 9:11 a.m. When Heidi Adelsman was in fourth grade, her family told her she'd be going to a new school the next year. It was 1971 and Minneapolis was deeply segregated. Children attended public schools that were either mostly white or mostly Black, and schools with mostly Black students got fewer resources. Adelsman, who is white, said her family's home had been built with a racial covenant that legally prohibited anyone who wasn't white from purchasing the property. She remembers not going to play in the nearest park because it was considered the “Black park.” Tim Evans for MPR News Co-curator Heidi Adelsman reads over an installment in the Separate Not Equal exhibition at the Hennepin History Museum. “If you lived next to 35W, you couldn't move south of the racially restricted areas,” Adelsman recalled. “We were living in an apartheid Minneapolis up until the 50s and 60s in some ways. People were very restricted as to where they could live.” Adelsman is one of the curators behind a new exhibit at the Hennepin History Museum. “Separate Not Equal” tells the story of school desegregation and the pairing of Nathan Hale and Eugene Field elementary schools, which were less than 2 miles apart in south Minneapolis. But for Adelsman, the story is not just public history, it's personal. She was among the white students bused from Hale to Field when desegregation efforts started. “It was really a wonderful thing for me to go to Field and have classmates that looked like my family. For many of us, for myself and the family that I come from, from our values, it made a big difference in my life.”  Tim Evans for MPR News Co-curator Heidi Adelsman shows a photograph of former Minneapolis school teacher Bessie Griffin. These were classmates who looked like her African American brother, and that was in addition to a diverse teaching staff and curriculum. Adelsman and her family were excited to be part of the desegregation effort. But she remembers other white families who were against it. “People would see you in the store and walk away, call your house and say, ‘We're coming into your house in the middle of the night,'” Adelsman said. “There were some very real threats. This is a very Midwestern form of racism that we don't want to acknowledge. This is part of what perpetuates our segregation, white supremacy in Minneapolis, I'm afraid — is that we don't acknowledge this history.”  Tim Evans for MPR News Co-curator Cindy Booker points out a map depicting how Minnehaha Falls served as an informal demarcation for racial segregation in south Minneapolis throughout much of the 20th century. The exhibit documents pushback from white families, but there are also stories of success — school administrators navigating tricky situations and recruiting a more diverse staff with at least 10 percent teachers of color. And then there were the family and community interactions across racial lines that built new relationships and broke down racist stereotypes. “There were stereotypes about Field being a ‘less than place,' … this notion that the African American parents were uneducated at Field,” Adelsman said. “The African American parents at Field had very good jobs and were very educated … There is so much ingrained from white supremacy and racism that we can't see other people for the human potential and the humanity that we are.”  Adelsman isn't the only exhibit curator who lived through the Field-Hale pairing. Cindy Booker, who is Black, was in first grade when her mom got her ready to go to a new school as part of the desegregation effort. Tim Evans for MPR News Co-curator Cindy Booker looks fondly at a photograph of former Minneapolis School Board Member W. Harris Davis, Sr., who played a large role in pushing for educational racial integration. “My mom kept on saying, school's going to be different, you're not going to be able to walk with your brother and your cousins and you're going to have to take the school bus,” Booker said. For Booker and her family, the desegregation effort came with wins and losses. She got access to more resources at Hale, but she also spent more time on the bus. “The white parents and the Black parents with Hale-Field, they came up with a consensus of compromises. Each group got what they needed, not necessarily what they want,” she said.  Booker, who is one of the exhibit's curators, said the process of learning the history of desegregation in Minneapolis has revealed important lessons that can be applied now.  She was recently elected to fill a vacant at-large school board seat for Minneapolis Public Schools. She's taking many lessons from the exhibit into her new work. Booker was impressed by past leaders' commitment to design and follow-through on a program that breaks down stereotypes and racial divisions to get Minneapolis communities what they need.  The exhibit at the Hennepin History Museum runs through the spring of next year. Correction (June 6, 2022): An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed a quote about busing. The story has been updated. 40 years later Minneapolis parents recall busing's start Reporter's notebook Being bused to school Full series North Star Journey What should we cover next? Pass the Mic Correction (June 8, 2022): A previous version had a misspelling of Bessie Griffin's name in a photo caption. The story has been updated.

Chris and Deanna channel their inner Macklemore as they share their new obsession - poppin' tags! They talk all about the deals they've found at local thrift shops as they hunt for new-to-them clothes to fit their new-sized bodies. From there, Chris takes us on a road trip to Regina, Saskatchewan, but not without first stopping along the way at the Spam Museum, Minnehaha Falls, and the Mall of America. It's in Regina that we get introduced to Shannon St. Onge, a single mom who finds herself in a precarious situation - stuck in a Saskatchewan Screamer. With no emergency crews available to help, we hear how a social media post connected her with Andre Bouvier and how his kindness saved her and six others on that treacherous night.THE GOOD ALL AROUND US podcast is a celebration of uplifting stories and events from around the world.Each week, hosts Deanna and Chris Ley will alternate telling stories of good things that have happened to real people all across the globe.It's time to celebrate THE GOOD ALL AROUND US!It's time to HAPPY UP YOUR LIFE!Please make sure to subscribe so you can stay up to date on all new podcast releases....and if you like us, please give a 5-star rating in Apple Podcast or Podchaser. It will only take a sec! We'd appreciate it!...and if you really, really like us, head on over to Patreon and become our Neighbor! By joining our Patreon Community at the link below, you can get some fun GOODies, including access to our private Facebook group, monthly bonus episodes, and other awesome stuff. Best of all, you will be our Neighbor! You can move right in to the GOOD 'HOOD by clicking here.Be sure to follow us on social media!It's where we share about all the goings-on here at THE GOOD ALL AROUND US podcast.Facebook at THE GOOD ALL AROUND USInstagram at @TheGoodAllAroundUsPodcastTwitter at @HappyUpYourLifeYouTube at THE GOOD ALL AROUND US PodcastLinkedIn at THE GOOD ALL AROUND US PodcastGet your GOOD GOOD Merch!Grab some fun (and funny) gear at the Get GOOD Merch Store.Access everything above and so much more in one easy place - our website!www.TheGoodAllAroundUs.comJoin our Facebook group PODAPALOOZA where podcast creators and podcast listeners unite!Email us at any time at Hello@TheGoodAllAroundUs.com! We'd love to hear from you! Music courtesy of the amazingly talented Timur Khakimov. Check him out at OCHTAHEDRONMUSIC.Support the show

SPEAKERSJim du Bois, Kenny BlumenfeldJim du Bois 00:00Goodbye, 2021. How did it go climatologically? This is Way Over Our Heads. It's a weather and climate podcast. I'm Jim du Bois. Kenny Blumenfeld's climatologist. Here we are at the cusp of the end of 2021, New Year's Eve. Kenny, how you doing? You got to be kind of excited about this as we look back over the top five weather events of this past year.Kenny Blumenfeld 00:23Yeah, I'm doing well. Thanks, Jim. Happy New Year to you. Happy Holidays, belated to everybody. And hey, may we all soar in 2020.Jim du Bois 00:35That's what we said about 2021. Didn't quite work that way.Kenny Blumenfeld 00:40Yeah. But you know, so now we're really due for a good year.Jim du Bois 00:44Yes, exactly.Kenny Blumenfeld 00:47I would say, if our number one event hadn't occurred in December, we would have been looking back at 2021 as the year of drought, heat, and smoke. And I think a lot of people are still going to remember it that way. It was a hot, dry, and smoky summer for sure. But as you know, it was unseated. And I think our memories are going to preserve the number one even longer than the rest of them. So yeah, it was a surprising year with a kind of surprise ending.Jim du Bois 01:22Well, without a doubt. And let's start with the number five top weather event of 2021.Kenny Blumenfeld 01:31Yeah, sure. So you know, and listeners are wondering where this arbitrary top five comes from, the state climatology office kind of rounds up a list of the greatest weather events that are summarizable. There are some kind of abstract things that are I think people will remember, but they're hard to summarize. And it's hard to make a story about some of those, but the things that, you know, are sort of stamped in time, one way or the other. And then what we do is one of my colleagues, Pete Boulay, sends the list out to, you know, basically publicizes it as much as possible, shares it through our Facebook page, sends it out to a list of people who interact with our office a lot, sends it to the National Weather Service and some of our contacts there some media partners, and then has a very simple voting scheme. If something ranks at number five, it gets one point and if it ranks it, number one, it gets five points. Real simple. And then just kind of adds up, totals it up. So, the number five was the June heatwave. This was the one, you have to get to stretch your memory now. Some of these are a little bit far back there. And maybe don't remember exactly what we're talking about. This was not, and we talked about this, Jim, June heatwave was not a phenomenal magnitude event. We didn't shatter any records for, you know, highest temperature recorded at any station for all time or anything like that. And so, there have definitely been worse heatwaves. What made this one interesting was it was the longest and most severe heatwave to occur so early in the season. So it wasn't the magnitude. This has actually become a kind of common theme. It wasn't the magnitude, so much as it was when we found it. And Jim, you and I have talked about this kind of thing. It seems like countless times in recent years where we're, you know, talking about some event that's the latest to be so warm, or the earliest to be so warm, or the most severe for how early or late it was. That kind of thing. So that's our number five. It's the June heatwave. We had a lot of records for the time of the year. It was the most 90 degree days so early in the season consecutively in the Twin Cities and at some other stations. It was legitimately hot in northwestern Minnesota, where several stations a number of times cracked 100 degrees, something we did not do in the southern part of the state. Yeah. So you know, the kind of weather that isn't unusual in July is somewhat unusual in early June and we had never seen it this hot for that long that early in the season before. So that's our number five event. You must have loved it because you're, you know, remind the listeners this is Jim hot weather du Bois.Jim du Bois 04:34No, I reveled in that June heatwave. So that's certainly one of the events of this past year that I did enjoy weather-wise. So we'll go from one extreme to another from a heatwave to a cold outbreak in February of 2021. That's the fourth-ranked weather event of 2021, and Kenny, that one covered a good portion of the US going as far south as Texas. That was the event that caused problems with the Texas electrical grid, correct?Kenny Blumenfeld 05:06Yeah. So you know, we get, we get kind of stuck in this pretty brutal cold outbreak. And I'll just say this one, number four, the cold outbreak, is very similar in how we position it to that June heatwave. It was not the coldest that we'd ever been by a long shot. But it was pretty late in winter to have it be that cold for that many days. So it actually, you know, the kinds of things that we do, they're not always warm, warm, warm, warm, warm. Some of the ways that we've expanded the seasons a little bit has been to displace or dislodge some of the coldest weather from its traditional time of year and send it, have it happening a little earlier, or later in some cases. Yeah, so this was, you know, about two weeks of really cold weather here, this period during the middle of February for almost two weeks where we were averaging over 20 degrees below normal for the entire period. And there were some days that were close to 30 degrees below normal, depending on where you were looking. We had gone all winter without having a 50 below anywhere in Minnesota, and that that ended with this cold outbreak. We had some very low wind chills. And the only real saving grace was that it was late enough in the season that a lot of the days were sunny, and you can actually feel the sun beating down on you even as the air temperature was below zero. So there was, you know, at least a little of that subtle February warmth, because, you know, there you're only a month away from the spring equinox. And you are correct. This is basically while this large sort of dome of high pressure was anchored over our region, and we had this kind of pretty significant cold outbreak covering a large part of North America, a separate lobe kind of lurched southward and really ran down, right down kind of just to the west of us from the Dakotas through Nebraska, into Oklahoma and Texas. And it was during that period that we had the electrical grid, energy grid catastrophe in Texas and in parts of Oklahoma. So yeah, it was a pretty major event up here. Again, we didn't break any cold weather records. It wasn't the lowest temperature we'd ever recorded. It wasn't even close to that. But it was pretty late in the winter to have it be that cold for that many consecutive days. And that, people remember it. And so got ranked number four.Jim du Bois 07:46Well, checking in at number three is the summer of smoke.Kenny Blumenfeld 07:51Gosh, you remember that, Jim?Jim du Bois 07:54I do indeed. And if I recall correctly, it broke a record in terms of the level of particulate matter that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency measured. I think it was at the highest level ever since measurements have been taken. So very, very unhealthy conditions.Kenny Blumenfeld 08:11You know, real kudos here to the Pollution Control Agency, we couldn't have summarized this event, if it weren't for them. They're the agency that's responsible for monitoring our air quality and issuing advisories that then get transmitted through the National Weather Service. And they had a very busy kind of a career summer, because there were, you know, there was, I think there was a highlight or a low light, which was this period between July 28 and August 6, where we kind of had this unprecedented smoke outbreak with visibilities that were often below a mile. We actually could find some stations that reported half and quarter-mile visibility during this period. Just to put that in perspective, that's in the air, there's nothing falling, it's just the particulates hanging in the air close to the ground, so that they're reducing visibility. When it snows hard enough to reduce the visibility to a half-mile, you're generally clocking in around an inch an hour. And if, and if it's a quarter-mile visibility while it's snowing, you're usually coming in over one inch per hour of accumulation. So basically the smoke at times was reducing the visibility to levels that you really only get during moderate and heavy snowfall. And apart from that smoke outbreak, you know, the Twin Cities only being one example, but in the Twin Cities there were 25 days during the summer where the airport reported smoke present as part of its present weather so it was a that's you know, almost a third of the meteorological summer had had smoke pretty bad. And so people do remember it. It came from mostly the fires that were in the region in northern Minnesota, and especially across the border in parts of Ontario and Manitoba. But there were a few times at least where we actually got caught up in some westerly winds and high smoke, you know, not necessarily making it to the ground, but was enough to filter the sun and reduce the temperatures a little bit that drifted in from some of the fires in California and Oregon and Washington. So yeah, very smoky summer. And people won't remember it fondly from that aspect, because it obviously caused some pretty severe consequences, and at least imminent threats for people with respiratory conditions. And also, you know, even for the healthy population, posed some challenges on some of those days where the air quality was, was really low. And again, kudos to the pollution control agencies, air quality forecast crew, they did a great job. And they are the reason that we know what we know about this summer.Jim du Bois 11:02We're recapping the top five weather events of 2021. Coming in at number two is the drought of 2021, which looks like it may become the drought of 2022, at least the way we're going.Kenny Blumenfeld 11:16Yes, so it was a pretty nasty drought, for sure. And this was going to, I think this was slated to be the walkaway number one. You know, there were months during the summer where it just seemed like we could not buy a good rain across the state. And, you know, it was, it was hot. People didn't have enough water. We saw Minnehaha Falls basically get reduced to just drip, drip, drip like a leaky faucet, which, you know, is something that we had not observed since the great drought of 1988. It was common to see lakes, shallow lakes, in particular and streams, especially in northwestern Minnesota just dried up, not flowing. And it was a dry, dry summer. It was a major, you know, in northwest Minnesota, it was the worst drought that we've had in over 40 years since 1980. And the rest of the state, most of the rest of the state, including, let's say, including the Twin Cities, and north central and northeast and southwest Minnesota, it was more like a 10 to 30 year drought. So not unprecedented, but, and not even necessarily generational, but you know, pretty substantial. And it behaved just like a drought, it was mostly hot, it was frequently quite hot. And here's an area where some of these different pieces work together. Obviously, the hot weather is easier when the air is dry, so you can get those heatwaves. But also because everything was so dry, and we had so many fires, there was actually smoke, which we just covered, the number three event prevented the heat from being worse than it was. And we had talked about this on the show. There were quite a few days in late, mid and late July where the smoke might have suppressed the temperature by five or possibly even 10 degrees. And by suppressing the temperature, you know, July was incredibly dry. And by preventing it from being even hotter, it really prevented the drought from getting even worse. So this was a big story even with, you know, the kind of, quote, benefit of smoke holding some of the temperatures down. So that was obviously a huge story. We started climbing out of it. Drought is a long, kind of long lasting animal though, and it takes a long time to revert some of those deficits. So even though we got a lot wetter during the fall in much of Minnesota, and winter's honestly off to a pretty good start, we still have a long way to go. And still much of the state is technically in some kind of drought condition. And it's quite likely that unless we get you know really high amounts of precipitation over the next couple months, it's pretty likely that drought will persist and remain in Minnesota at some level as we get into spring.Jim du Bois 14:12And drum roll, checking in at number one, an event that occurred just a couple of weeks ago, the historic mid-December severe weather and wind event. And the National Weather Service actually on its website, you can find a recap. They call it historic, unprecedented storm of December 15 and 16 of 2021. Kenny, this was one for the record books, correct?Kenny Blumenfeld 14:38This is another one where I think the event itself was actually pretty remarkable. I think any time of year, the severe weather event would have probably made the top five because it had a huge footprint. Did a lot of damage. And it just, the whole thing had a lot going for it. Very big complex system. But it was really the timing. So just in terms of the way that the votes got tabulated, this was our kind of hands down runaway number one, the next one wasn't even close. And, you know, again, think of how influential the drought was, and how much we, how much time as a state we collectively spent talking about it. But you throw a severe weather outbreak that includes 20 tornadoes in Minnesota, and technically a serial derecho, that's the prolonged damaging thunderstorm winds that race oh, you know, in this case across several states. And then you also throw in some of the other things that are a little more typical, but just heightened the intensity of this, that you had these very strong winds that set up after all the thunderstorm activity subsided as the pressure gradient started getting equalized, and wow. So we had power going out across Minnesota from thunderstorms. And then after the thunderstorms, just from regular winds, and during that time the temperature was dropping, and you started to have snow falling in parts of central and northern Minnesota. So it was quite a storm. The magnitude in and of itself maybe could have secured it a number one spot, but probably would have gotten it in the top five in any case, but having it come in December, Jim, we just had never seen anything like that. You know when the latest tornado on record had been previously, Jim?Jim du Bois 16:29 It was sometime in November, wasn't it? Kenny Blumenfeld 16:32Yeah, it was November 16, I believe 1931, there was a tornado in Hennepin County that was reported. So November 16. So this broke the record for latest tornado on record by almost a full month. And it wasn't just one tornado. I think, if you would talk to climatologists or meteorologists, you know, and said, well, what's gonna happen, you know, are we ever going to have a winter tornado? I think a lot of people may have said no. I know that those of us who follow the changing climate have been talking about how at some point we're going to get a winter tornado. But, you know, honestly, what I would have expected would be that it would be one kind of renegade severe thunderstorm that has a little bit of rotation in it, and produces a small tornado, somewhere in the southern or southeastern part of the state. I think that's what almost any sane meteorologist or climatologist would picture, Jim. They would not think, oh, yeah, someday there will be a mid-December massive, you know, severe weather outbreak that covers tens of thousands of square miles and includes, you know, what looks like on a on a regional basis over 60 confirmed tornadoes. And 20 of those coming in Minnesota. What? No! And then in addition to the tornadoes, you know, large number of hurricane force wind reports or greater, and storms moving at 60 to 80 miles an hour. It was just too much. We had no real ability to see this kind of thing coming. So just if only for its element of surprise, that event gets number number one.Jim du Bois 18:24Well, Kenny, it's been quite a year, 2021, not only from a historical standpoint in so many ways, but from a weather standpoint as well. So we're going to start out to 2022 on the cold side.Kenny Blumenfeld 18:40Yeah, it's, uh, you know, not memorable, but a cold outbreak, kind of typical Minnesota cold outbreak coming, starting basically on New Year's Eve, and peaking overnight and into New Year's Day. We're gonna see some wind chills around 40 below, 45 below maybe in parts of western and northwestern Minnesota, northern Minnesota, and maybe more like 20 to 35 below in the southern, central and eastern parts of the state. This will be one of those situations where it's not the temperature so much, it's the winds. Temperatures will be in the negative teens at their lowest, but the winds are going to be up 10 to 20 miles an hour. And that's really going to drive those wind chills down. So, is it one for the record books? No, no, not not at this time of year it's not, but it is dangerous cold weather conditions. We might see these things, you know, a dozen or so times this winter. They're always dangerous. Always worth noting. And it does look like it's going to be mostly cold during that first, first week or so of January. So my question to you, Jim, is how does a hot weather loving person cope with cold weather? Do you just stay inside the whole time or do you find a way to get outside?Jim du Bois 20:00You know, Kenny, I don't spend a lot of time outside when it's bitterly cold like this. But, you know, I do get out. I kind of do it for my own mental health, considering we're still kind of in this quasi-COVID lockdown right now. So, while I don't embrace cold weather, I've come to learn to tolerate it.Kenny Blumenfeld 20:19Yeah, I think a lot of people have, have that sort of coping mechanism. I try and do as much as I can outside until it becomes unbearable. But I, in my hands, my fingers tend to get very cold, but I do like, you know, I like the days where it's cold, but calm. The ones where it's really windy, and so that cold just sort of penetrates everything, those are, those are a lot less pleasant. And again, I think that, I think that this one, you know if you think of some of the real brutal outbreaks, if you've been in Minnesota for a long time, this is not an upper echelon cold weather event. But this is a rude awakening to anybody who hasn't spent a lot of time in Minnesota or maybe is new to the area. And it's also kind of our first real serious one of the year, so it's gonna jog your memory. I mean, going outside Saturday morning, New Year's Day morning, for more than a couple minutes is going to be pretty, very uncomfortable and potentially dangerous. And you know, especially if you don't have the right gear. So keep those extremities covered nicely, cover your head, your ears. And obviously, you want to keep enough heat in your core area. So you know, an extra couple layers around your chest always a good idea. This is something that I think Minnesotans can generally handle and we can do this. But you know, on the other hand, don't ever underestimate the climate. It can hurt you, if you don't respect itJim du Bois 21:56Well, sound advice, Kenny. Happy New Year to you. Happy New Year to our listeners, and we will check in with you again next year.Kenny Blumenfeld 22:06I'll talk to you in 2022 .Thanks, Jim.Jim du Bois 22:09They care, Kenny. This is Way Over Our Heads. It's weather and climate podcast. I'm Jim du Bois. Kenny Blumenfeld's a climatologist. We'll catch you next time.

Gathering in person at Minnehaha Falls, we immerse ourselves in the imagery of water and the power of the river as we remember the strength of the stones in the banks we build, and the well-worn groove of the river bed that waits for us, whatever the season. We remember the ritual of Water Communion and the symbolic ingathering it represents and we will intentionally hold back the waters for now, waiting with each other, for the fullness of our hoped-for return to our building in November and the joy it will bring. Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout, Aimee K. Bryant, Franco Holder, Lauren Wyeth, and Revs. Arif Mamdani and Jen Crow lead the service. Words of Welcome- Rev. Jen Crow (:29) Song- Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout and Aimee K. Bryant (7:10) Time for All Ages- Aimee K. Bryant (9:47) Body and Community Prayer- Lauren Wyeth and Rev. Arif Mamdani (15:40) Message- Rev. Jen Crow (26:35)

SPEAKERSJim du Bois, Kenny Blumenfeld Jim du Bois 00:00Ah, it's September. This is Way Over Our Heads. It's a weather and climate podcast. I'm Jim du Bois. Kenny Blumenfeld's a climatologist. Kenny, my goodness, the switch has been thrown. It was 51 degrees in my backyard when I woke up this morning. Kenny Blumenfeld 00:18Yeah, you're right. I mean, it's just like that first day of school whether right? Jim du Bois 00:22Right. Kenny Blumenfeld 00:22Although it's not really the first day of school in a lot of places but has that feeling that you get after Labor Day where, yeah, it's actually chilly. I woke up and I thought, oh, my goodness, I have to wear long sleeves biking into work today. Jim du Bois 00:37The temperature this morning was 34 degrees somewhere in Minnesota. And I can't remember where, Bemidji? Or was it, was it Hibbing? I can't remember, my goodness. Kenny Blumenfeld 00:47So, it's okay. Because what's interesting is the various media personalities will often go through the various airports that report generally hourly. And so, you can get kind of real time temperature data from them. What's interesting is in the climate office, we generally don't include those as valid readings. So, there might be an airport, for example, Grand Rapids, or maybe Big Fork or something like that that reports a really low temperature. We wait until, and I think you know about this, Jim, the daily temperature and precipitation readers who use a little higher quality instrumentation that's more standardized, we wait for their data to come in. And that's usually not until the next morning, although sometimes it's the same morning, depending on what time they take their observation. So, it'll be a few hours before we know what the lowest temperature around Minnesota was. But you're right, here on Monday, the 13th of September, we definitely had some northern Minnesota airport stations that were in the 30s. The Ely airport, even at 8am, was still in the 30s, for example. So, well, you can get frost just about any time of year way up north but we're definitely entering that that frost season in northern Minnesota. Jim du Bois 02:11Well, Kenny, you and I have talked about this before in previous episodes. And it always seems that right after the State Fair, right after Labor Day, that somehow a switch is thrown, and it goes from...rather abruptly I might add some times, from summer to fall. And we certainly have noticed that waking up some mornings when there's been a certain crispness in the air that wasn't there in late August. And today was the day it really kind of hit me in the, in the face when I got up this morning and I thought it is downright chilly this morning. And there was a lot of dew on the grass, so it was kind of damp. But I thought this has not only the feel but kind of the smell of fall too. Kenny Blumenfeld 02:53Oh, the smell of fall. I love it. And you know pretty soon, and maybe even this morning, walk along by the creek or by an area lake, and you'll see that steam rising off of it. That's the, ooohhh, that's, that's, that's a good one. Because what that is, is the warmer water left over from the hot summer, you know, in any summer. But this summer in particular, we didn't have much water, so it was easy for it to get warm. And then you see that steam because that's the water essentially, the warm water, basically being evaporated into the cooler air. And the way that that works is really interesting. The water essentially warms the air right above it. And then that warm air then pulls some of the water off of the surface and puts it into the atmosphere as humidity. So, you see that steam, and then it, and then it very quickly saturates that air right above the, right above the water. So, you see this steam coming off, and it's a sign that your water is cooling down fairly rapidly, in fact, and we tend to lose a lot of standing water, you know, basically, through early November from about early, early, mid-September right into early November, you lose a lot to evaporation. But what you're, what you're observing, Jim is, you know, it's all those terms that people, I say a typical person slept through or tried not to pay attention to. But as you get into fall, the intensity and the duration of sunlight declines. And that shuts down--here's the big one, Jim--photosynthesis, and without, and remember, the easy way of thinking of photosynthesis is that's just sunlight, activating living things, plants, and when the photosynthesis shuts down because the sunlight intensity and duration isn't great enough, then the plants stop essentially sustaining themselves. So, all of those seasonal plants, hardwood trees and grasses in particular, and many crops, they just stop production. And once they stop production, they, they stop sharing moisture that they conduct through their various systems with the atmosphere, the atmosphere gets a little bit drier. We're not quite at that point yet. But on a good cool morning, you can certainly notice that, you know, some of the things have really slowed down. Jim du Bois 05:18Well, we did bid farewell to meteorological summer on August 31. We now of course are in meteorological fall. Astronomical fall still a little ways off for us. So Kenny, let's go back and look at the month of August. What was August like for us from a climate perspective? Kenny Blumenfeld 05:35Yeah, so August was another warm month. It was a good warm month, but it wasn't like June. But it was, you know, it was up there. And it had highly varied rainfall. So basically, if you lived in the southern part of the state and parts of western Minnesota, you actually did pretty well with precipitation during August, above normal from the Twin Cities West northwestward through Alexandria, all the way south to the Iowa border. Parts of far southeastern Minnesota got absolutely dumped on again. There actually, there's no drought in far southeastern Minnesota. And then, you know, kind of hit or miss areas in western and northwestern Minnesota also had above normal precipitation in August, but then a big swath of northeast Minnesota failed to have normal precipitation again. This was the area, you know, St. Louis and Lake and parts of Cook County, way up in far northeast Minnesota, where they struggled to get even two inches of precipitation. So uniformly, it was warm. across the state. There was actually more heat in terms of hot weather in northern Minnesota than in southern Minnesota. So for example, Jim, International Falls had eight days, 90 degrees or higher. So, you should have been in International Falls, Twin Cities only had four of those days during August. Rochester had none. So, it was an interesting kind of reversal of the geographic pattern of hot weather. You know, it really just had to do with the configuration of the high pressure and low pressure systems that were affecting us. But yeah, so it was kind of a hot month in northern Minnesota and more of a warm month in in southern Minnesota. And then it was very wet in parts of southern Minnesota, and very dry in northeast Minnesota. And that kind of capped off the whole summer. Is that where you're going to go next, ask about... Jim du Bois 07:34Absolutely. What was the summer of 2021 like for us in Minnesota? Kenny Blumenfeld 07:39Well, you know, here in the climate office, we've been kind of battling some misconceptions that folks have, because when you look at the average seasonal temperature across, across the state of Minnesota, it's actually the second highest that we have on record. So, it was a warm summer for sure. second only to 1988. And that's true in a few places. And several individual locations actually had their warmest summer on record. The misconception that we're kind of working with, you know, is that people tend to say, oh, well, it's the hottest summer on record. Well, here's the thing, what is hot? You know, I know how Jim du Bois, he likes it, he likes it, he likes it 90 or better. Jim du Bois 08:28Yes. Kenny Blumenfeld 08:29He wants to he, he wants to earn his relief. You know, whatever lemonade, he's gonna drink later on. He wants to earn it. And I think that's how a lot of us really think of hot weather. If it's, if it's 90 or higher, or maybe you have, you know, really, like the highest temperature of the summer is higher, or as high as anything you've observed. We didn't have that. International Falls is probably the one station, and there's a couple sprinkled around northern Minnesota, where we have to give it to them. They had legitimately hot summers by their own standards. So, far northern Minnesota, it was a hot hot summer, and it was potentially the hottest on record. But when you look into southern and central Minnesota, and that's where a lot of these terms are being generated, you know, around the Twin Cities, this was nowhere near our hottest summer because we've had summers, you know, we didn't even rank in the top 10 for a number of days above 90 degrees. And our highest temperature of summer didn't even crack 100 degrees in the Twin Cities. And you know, you've got a couple dozen other years where that did happen. So, you know, it was a very warm summer, no doubt about it. And we saw some of the highest temperatures that we have recorded on an seasonally averaged basis. That means you take the average from June, July and August. No doubt about it, warm, warm summer, and some parts of the state were hot. We just aren't comfortable saying this was our hottest summer yet because anybody who experienced 1988 would say, yeah, what about that one? Or people who just know the history and know what happened in say 1936, for example, when, you know, there was 14 days in July in a row where the temperature was 90 or higher, and I think something like eight of those days, it was over 100 degrees and including our all time high temperature record. And since we weren't anywhere near those types of metrics, you know, this is where, you know, dorky climatologists get, you know, we just like to keep people on message a little bit here. Because if you live in Portland, Oregon, for example, they absolutely had some of the hottest weather they ever recorded. No doubt about that. And we can't really claim to have had the same experience that Portland had. And we want to make sure we use those types of terms when we know we did have that kind of summer, and we haven't had that one yet. So hopefully, it's not coming. But you know, gosh, seems like almost anything can happen now. Jim du Bois 11:11How is our drought situation shaping up? Kenny Blumenfeld 11:14Yeah, that's a good question. So you probably noticed, Jim, nice, green lush vegetation in South Minneapolis. Jim du Bois 11:22Oh, yes. It came back, it came back. Kenny Blumenfeld 11:23Yeah, I think that, you know, Minnehaha Falls came to life. This allows, I think people in southern Minnesota in particular to kind of forget what else is going on. So, in the Twin Cities area, we got a good push of precipitation. And certainly southern Minnesota has done better. We still have large deficits, anywhere from four to eight inches, depending on where you are in most of southern Minnesota. Parts of southeastern Minnesota, there's effectively no long term deficit now. And so, it's not clear how long they'll remain in official drought conditions. But in northern Minnesota where the precipitation was a little more spotty, and in many cases, scarce, the drought, if anything intensified during August. And you know, I think if I were in northeast Minnesota with all the fires from the summer, I would not be resting on our laurels just yet, because they didn't get as much precipitation as other parts of the state. And they're coming into that same thing, we just described the whole mechanism that makes it crisp in the fall. That also dries out standing, living vegetation. So, if you've already had really dry conditions, and then the dry season kicks in where you don't have photosynthesis so you don't have that evapo- transpiration where the water comes out of the plants and goes into the atmosphere, that's really when the main fire weather season is. So, parts of northeastern Minnesota have a two year deficit going back to February of 2020. So, it's like 18 or 19 months deficit on the order of a foot of rainfall or precipitation. So, they're really low. They need more precipitation. They're coming into their dry season. Much of northern Minnesota is still in that extreme level of drought officially, and we still have a little swath of northwestern Minnesota, kind of from the International Falls area through Red Lake that remains in what's called D4 or exceptional drought, the highest level of drought on the US Drought Monitor. So, I would say southern Minnesota can feel a bit better. We're still behind, but we're in a much better position than northern Minnesota where they haven't had as much help and where the deficits are much larger. Jim du Bois 12:38So, what do the weather trends look like in the days and maybe weeks ahead? Anything interesting that you've seen? Kenny Blumenfeld 13:52Yeah, actually, the most interesting thing starts I mean, there's one shot today, that's Monday, September 13. I don't think it's a major outbreak of severe weather. But you know, the Storm Prediction Center has indicated slight risk of severe weather over parts of southern Minnesota, basically south of the Twin Cities. I think I-90, that kind of I-90 area, and maybe a little bit north into say Mankato and Red Wing. So, a chance for severe weather this evening. And heavy rain will also be possible over parts of southern and central Minnesota. Again, I don't think this is the event of the year at all, but there's a chance that, you know, decent signal that some areas are going to get another one to two inches, kind of I don't know if it's irony, but a lot of that rain looks most likely in the areas that you know, needed the least. They'll take it. I think it's good to put it in the bank. When you're in a drought, put as much water in the bank as you can, but there are parts in northeastern Minnesota that it probably won't see anything from this. Then we move into a really warm pattern especially as we get, you know, later into the week and into the weekend. The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center has an 80% chance likelihood of being above normal for temperatures in the six to 10 day period. And in the eight to 14 day period. So, we're getting, you know, right around the Fall Equinox and slightly after that. So, you know, September 18, through basically 25th or so 26, that period has a very high likelihood of being above normal for temperatures. And depending on where in the state you are potentially anyway, above normal for precipitation. Essentially, what the models are showing as we move into kind of a warm and stormy pattern. And we've seen this before, my colleague and I will joke about oh, every time it looks like the whole state of Minnesota is about to get really warm and really wet, it ends up being that southern Minnesota gets pounded and northern Minnesota just gets hot, so I'm not betting on anything yet. All I know is that the professional forecasters are looking ahead and seeing a lot of precipitation chances. The European Model, which is one of the highly regarded forecasting models, shows several inches of precipitation over parts of Minnesota over the next 9, 10 days. Again, is that really what's going to happen, or is it just going to hit Rochester again? That right now, I can't tell you, but it does look like a warmer pattern, you know, so another chance of showers and thunderstorms on Thursday. And then again over the weekend. And then again, we get into a really warm pattern by the end of the weekend where we could have some 90s creeping back into Minnesota, if things hold up for Sunday. Jim du Bois 16:43Well, it may be meteorological fall, but it sounds like summer-like weather is going to persist for a while. Kenny Blumenfeld 16:50Yeah, I mean, you'll like it, Jim. I'll like it too, I think, you know, it'll still be relatively humid. So, we're not yet to that hot, dry type of fall weather that sometimes you get. So we'll have to see. It's not quite the same as what you get in July. But you know, it could be an interesting time. So starting with today, thunderstorms very likely over parts of southern and central Minnesota. Almost guaranteed somewhere in that region this evening with severe weather most likely south of the Twin Cities. And then other chances late in the week and over the weekend. Jim du Bois 17:27Well, keep an eye on the sky and an ear or an eye to your favorite source of weather information. And Kenny, great chatting with you as always. Enjoy and we'll check in with you again next week. Kenny Blumenfeld 17:39Great, thanks. Good talking with you too. Jim. Jim du Bois 17:41This is Way Over Our Heads. It's a weather and climate podcast. I'm Jim du Bois. Kenny Blumenfeld's a climatologist. We'll catch you next time.

This episode contains excerpts from our shared gathering with Spirit Garage, another community in the Twin Cities. We were so happy to share the Minnehaha Falls bandstand with them. And, much as it's true in other relationships, it can be complicated!  Listen as Holly Johnson, pastor with Spirit Garage helps us wonder and engage that complexity.   See the whole livestream here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI6fVUAbA4s

The annual Laughing Waters Bluegrass Festival, held 1-7 PM on Labor Day at Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis presents the best of local bluegrass, plus. When festival organizer Alan Jesperson talked to Phil Nusbaum about the event, the talk turned to one of the festival groups, King Wilkie's Dream.

SPEAKERSJim du Bois, Kenny Blumenfeld Jim du Bois 00:00Well, somebody's about to get pounded. This is Way Over Our Heads. It's a weather and climate podcast. I'm Jim du Bois, Kenny Blumenfeld's a climatologist. Kenny, where you kind of roused from your sleep in the early morning hours of Tuesday, August 24 by rumbling and the sound of something we haven't heard very often this spring and summer...raindrops and, in my case, a NOAA Weather Radio awakened me before the storm actually got here. Kenny Blumenfeld 00:28Yeah, I'm glad that you have that available. Everybody should have a NOAA Weather Radio, just like you have a smoke detector. Because, you know, when the storms come up in the middle of the night, how else are you going to know, and sometimes you need to get to safety. So yeah, Jim I, I woke up to the sound of thunder and rain. And then when I looked out the window, there was some wind too. It was quite a storm. You know, and it dropped some decent precipitation across parts of southern Minnesota, right around an inch in most of the Twin Cities area, but areas to the south got anywhere from an inch and a half to three inches of rain, not far from Northfield over towards Red Wing, and then out into parts of Sibley and Renville Counties. So, it was a nice rainfall event. And of course, there had been some, some other rains over the past week in parts in northwestern Minnesota. So, not a bad week--at least in the context of the dry conditions--has not so far been a bad week. Jim du Bois 01:33Well, here in the backyard rain gauge, we had 1.22 inches of rain on Tuesday morning. And probably the most dramatic indication of the power of that rainfall was the effect on Minnehaha Creek which happens to flow right behind our house. And I had taken a photo literally standing in the creek bed the day before, that'd be Monday, August 23, And it was virtually entirely dry. And I took another photo in the exact same location, although not standing in the creek bed because the creek bed now had water in it and water flowing at a pretty impressive rate. So, that to me was even beyond what I saw on my rain gauge that really drove home just how impactful that rain was. Kenny Blumenfeld 02:20Yeah, you know, Minnehaha Falls had been basically shut off. I mean, it was reduced to just a trickle like a, you know, like a faucet leak essentially over the weekend. And so, to have it flowing and raging, I think the falls would probably be on the very low end of of what's kind of normal the day after that rain. But it's good to know that the creek came back to life a little bit anyway. Jim du Bois 02:48Yeah, it was pretty impressive. Well, Kenny, was that kind of the debut performance of a series of rainfall events and possibly severe weather events we will see over the next several days? Kenny Blumenfeld 03:00Yeah, it's a, that's a good way of putting it. Jim, I would say that the, you know, so that was Tuesday, then we kind of took Wednesday off, didn't have much. And now on Thursday, when we're recording this, we're kind of looking ahead to a fairly intense rainfall event in parts of southern Minnesota. Don't know exactly where, there's all kinds of uncertainty, even just hours ahead of it. And then kind of a, you know, on and off fairly busy weekend covering a little bit more of the state. So yeah, I think that, you know, you could say that that was a Roman numeral one or I. And now, and then, and then the main event is right now, is going to happen Thursday afternoon and evening and overnight. And then there'll be other follow up events. I mean, these all have some potential for severe weather. But, you know, I think meteorologically, the most interesting aspect is the potential for the first system, the one on Thursday night, to produce some extraordinary rainfall amounts. Jim du Bois 04:06Are we talking the possibility of flash flooding in certain areas? Kenny Blumenfeld 04:12I think that's accurate. You know, there's a little bit of a disconnect in some of the official products that we're seeing. And when we say products, of course, we're talking about basically, the way that the weather gets summarized by some official forecasting entity, usually part of the National Weather Service. And one of the products that we look at a lot that anybody who follows the weather looks at is this excessive rainfall risk. And it actually is very similar to the severe weather risk categories that the Storm Prediction Center uses. This is a different arm within NOAA. It's called the Weather Prediction Center. It used to be the Hydro Meteorological Prediction Center, but I think that, that wasn't very, that wasn't very friendly to lay populations so they changed it to the Weather Prediction Center. But they do most of the, the large area rainfall forecasting, and they have, they have much of Minnesota, southern half or so of Minnesota and then the northern half or so of Iowa and the western third or so of Wisconsin in a slight risk for excessive rainfall. When they say excessive rain, they mean rain that exceeds the current flash flood guidance. And what that means is that the rainfall rates, there's a slight chance that the rainfall rate, and that would be a 10 to 20% chance that rainfall rates would actually be high enough to exceed capacity and cause some flash flooding. The reason I said that there's a disconnect is I think that that slight risk area that they're using actually is also being used to express some uncertainty. We don't know exactly where the heaviest rains will be. But some of the, some of the models, Jim, have been showing very, very high rainfall totals up to, you know, eight, nine inches in narrow swaths. And of course, these swaths have been anywhere from entral Iowa up to central Minnesota. And so, that's the uncertainty is we don't know exactly where the heaviest rain will be. If I had to guess it would be somewhere along or south of that western arm of the Minnesota River into far southern Minnesota. And it might not be as high as, you know, some of those models might be getting a little bit carried away, but there's a lot of moisture in the atmosphere. And so, the conditions are at least supportive for some training thunderstorms. Those are the repeat thunderstorms that kind of form and move over the same areas, and also for very high rainfall rates during those thunderstorms. So, you know, we could be looking at a major flood event in at least a small area. And of course, this is inside one of the driest summers we've had in a long time. So, it's kind of surreal to be talking about it. Jim du Bois 07:01Now, when we're running a significant soil moisture deficit as we are this summer, what happens when it rains heavily? Now, we would tend to think that if the soil is dry, it might absorb the rain, like a sponge, but the reality may be something very different. Is it like the first inch of rain maybe will be absorbed like a sponge, and then any rainfall amount beyond that begins to run off? I mean, it seems almost counterintuitive because you would logically think if soil was saturated with moisture, then additional rains would run off. But it sounds like the contrary might be the case. Kenny Blumenfeld 07:40Yeah, I mean, I, you know, honestly, there's going to be soil physicists and hydrologists, who who probably understand these processes better than I do, but I think the harder it rains, well first of all, when it's really dry, we've seen this before, too, when it's really dry, and you have dried dusty topsoil, which is certainly the case in some parts of Minnesota, then actually, the first thing that happens is the heavy rain doesn't even soak into that topsoil, it just washes it away. And that's definitely not great. That's something that you want. So, you actually get some erosion from the heavy rain because there's nothing kind of binding the topsoil down to the rest of the profile. But beyond that, it kind of depends on the rainfall rate. You know, if we were to get a really slow, you know, if we were to get several inches of additional rain but say distributed over a month, which is kind of what the DNR, that's sort of the DNR's message that if we made up five to eight inches over the course of a month, that would significantly alleviate drought conditions, because over the course of a month, there's probably enough time for the soils to absorb a lot of that moisture. I think another way you could look at it as you know, rather than getting it all at once, you'd prefer to have it over a prolonged period of weeks, or even months. So, when you get it all at once, I don't know what the exact quantity is that goes in, it's going to be determined by the rate but you're going to get some of the moisture into the soil but it can only go in so fast. And so then what doesn't make it into the soil while sort of waiting to percolate down, that is then going to start forming puddles and start running off, and that's when you get extra, and especially in urban areas where you have more pavement than soil, you're going to see a lot of runoff if, if it's raining really hard. So, I don't know the exact answer, Jim, but I would say you know, if you are getting several inches of rain in a 24 hour period, don't expect the majority of it to go into, you know, replenish your groundwater and and your soil moisture but expect a lot of it to run off instead. Jim du Bois 09:51So in other words, if we're thinking this great rainfall that's coming is going to pull us out of the drought situation, not going to happen, correct? Kenny Blumenfeld 09:59Yeah. I mean, you know, it's certainly going to have the potential to undo, or at least, maybe start reducing some of those major deficits in whichever areas get hit the hardest. I think that the long term deficits numerically might get reduced or even in small areas, erased. But that wouldn't necessarily end the drought for those people. Because, again, those are just precipitation deficits. It doesn't account for the this, you know, we've had months and months and months to deplete soil moisture and to deplete the groundwater, the aquifers, those kind of underwater lakes, or underground lakes. And we've had months and months and months to drop the river stream and lake levels. And that's going to all take time to get back. And those are, of course, the major indicators of drought. So yeah, I wouldn't, you know, pin your hopes on getting out of drought with one event, even if the numbers in small areas do support, you know, the deficit being gone. Remember, if it rains really hard, somewhere, within a few days, all that water that fell, or a lot of that water that fell is going to be off in some stream or river 500 miles away. So. it's not entirely local. Jim du Bois 11:19Well, Kenny, we are recording this on the morning of Thursday, August 26. And it looks like for each of the next three days, we in parts of Minnesota are going to have the risk of severe weather. And it looks like from the forecast discussions from the National Weather Service that all modes of severe weather potentially might come into the mix. So, what do you think, is this going to be pretty isolated, popping up in very isolated areas? Or could it be something on a grander scale? Kenny Blumenfeld 11:52Yeah, I think that, you know, for Thursday, the Storm Prediction Center definitely is looking at the Minnesota-Iowa border as having the highest risk. And that's the area that's going to be the warmest, have the most instability, and that's the area where I think the strong winds in particular, from the squall line would, would tend to be most likely. And that also seems to be the case as we get into Friday because there will be an additional round of storms. But there's, on both of those days, there's a marginal risk for severe weather that does extend up into the Twin Cities area roughly. And then we get into the weekend. And it appears that we have another risk for severe weather on Saturday afternoon, and that covers more of Minnesota. That, that covers the St. Cloud and Twin Cities area. And this, of course will change also, as we get more information, and as some of the forecast confidence increases on where the storms will be. But yeah, I think that in addition to heavy rains over the next three days, you're going to see the potential for some storms to produce hail, high winds, and and even isolated tornadoes. The winds aloft, especially in central and northern Minnesota, are actually pretty strong. And that would be conducive to organizing some of the thunderstorms so that they could either form really large, powerful storm complexes, or even in some cases become supercell thunderstorms. The only real limitation there is that where those strongest winds aloft occur, we might not see the most instability, might be a little cool, not quite humid enough. So, there's not a perfect match there. But it looks like a busy, kind of active weekend. I would say the biggest rainfall event looks like it would be Thursday into Friday morning where there is a potential for some flash flooding and very heavy rains, at least in narrow axes of southern Minnesota somewhere with maybe a more general one to two inch soaking rain type event surrounding that generally in the southern third, maybe southern half of Minnesota, but then additional rainfall chances as we get into Friday afternoon, and then again on Saturday afternoon. And we, you know, might take a couple days off and get back in business again on, as we get into next week. So it's a busy, active time. Jim du Bois 14:17Well, definitely keep an eye on the sky and an ear to your favorite source or an eye to your favorite source of weather information and be aware of the potential for severe weather. Let's hope we get some much needed rain but obviously not to the extreme point where we get flash flooding. So, hopefully it hits, it hits that sweet spot. Kenny Blumenfeld 14:37Yeah, I wish I could promise that. One of the things that the storm has is a huge amount of what meteorologists called precipitable water. That's basically if you take all of the moisture in the atmosphere, if you were able to just turn that into rain, some of the precipitable water quantities coming off of these climate models will be approaching, you know, all time highs for the date. And so, there's a lot of moisture, it's kind of highly anomalous or unusual quantities of moisture. And because of the mechanisms with these storms, they will have the ability to stay in place. So, I do think that at least localized flash flooding is very likely somewhere in southern Minnesota. But, you know, let's hope that surrounding that there's just a kind of general widespread soaking rain that could be quite beneficial to at least start, you know, or help dent further the ongoing drought conditions. Jim du Bois 15:38Well, Kenny, always great chatting with you and look forward to talking with you again early next week. Kenny Blumenfeld 15:45Very good. Thanks, Jim. You have a good rest of your day. Jim du Bois 15:48You as well, Kenny. This is Way Over Our Heads. It's a weather and climate podcast. I'm Jim du Bois. Kenny Blumenfeld is a climatologist. We'll see you next time.

Minnehaha Falls was dry…then it rained yesterday. Alexis watched HBO's Reminiscence starring Hugh Jackman; should you? Would You Rather have your mother walk in on your having sex or a co-worker? One of us is not like the others. LOL! Nirvana is trending…why?

One of the most wonderful things in the world are those people who have been present for you. Whether family members, friends, health workers, or some anonymous person who helped make a change that has impacted your life for the better. That's called 'showing up.' Poet, artist, song writer, activist and longtime Fabric friend, Joe Davis, joined us at Minnehaha Falls to help us celebrate those people and wonder at the possibility of showing up ourselves.   Want to connect with other resources for this and other Fabric podcasts? Click HERE.

If laughter isn't so wonderful, how come you like it so much? Take a look at laughter in this episode where Melissa Lock laughs along with folks at Minnehaha Falls. We could all use a little laughter!  EPISODE PAGE

What is the bets side to bring to a BBQ?, Facebook Fights, Dave talks about how it was going over Minnehaha Falls, Think Fast, Worst Date Wednesday, What do your siblings troll you about?, and more!

The 7 Wonders of the ancient world are hardly the only wonders of this world. It's no surprise that the first thing we're wondering at this summer is being together. Many of us celebrated it together at Minnehaha Falls but for all of us, it's worth wondering at as we figure out being together once again. EPISODE PAGE

What is the bets side to bring to a BBQ?, Facebook Fights, Dave talks about how it was going over Minnehaha Falls, Think Fast, Worst Date Wednesday, What do your siblings troll you about?, and more!

We talk to a Physicist about Dave going over Minnehaha Falls, What's that house worth?, People's Court: The Surprise Case, Match Game, Group Therapy, we talk to Rod who's HUGE on TikTok, War of the Roses, and more!

We talk to a Physicist about Dave going over Minnehaha Falls, What's that house worth?, People's Court: The Surprise Case, Match Game, Group Therapy, we talk to Rod who's HUGE on TikTok, War of the Roses, and more!

Sonatina, opus 100                                                      Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)        I. Allegro risoluto        II. Larghetto       III. Scherzo        IV. Finale Dvorak wrote this Sonatina for his teenaged son and daughter while living in America with his family for three years in the 1890s to study American folk music, with a goal of helping to create an American style of classical music. During his summers in the Czech-speaking prairie town of Spillville, Iowa, he composed four concert works on American themes: the symphony "From the New World," the "American" string quartet, the Cello Concerto, and this Sonatina. It opens with a quote from a Gold Rush song, "My Darling Clementine". The second movement is based on Native American chants and dances the family heard on a visit to Minnehaha Falls. The Scherzo suggests city park carousel music. The Finale, though a polka, is in the spirit of another rural hoe-down. This adaptation for oboe and piano was arranged by Dolci to fit within the range of an oboe and the respirational needs of an oboist. 

Call the show! 612-643-1108 Email the show transatheistpod@outlook.com Leave comments for the show at www.trans-atheist.com visit us on Facebook www.facebook.com/transatheistpod or Follow on Twitter @transatheistpod Not feeling safe? Need to talk? The Trans Lifeline is 1-877-565-8860 remember you're never alone. Quick Episode Summary 1:02   Quick introduction for new listeners 05:18 Grease Rag Interview 58:08 PixelGoth This episode features an interview with Grease Rag, a mostly Minneapolis based Women, Trans, and Femme cycling organization who are successfully creating safe spaces not just for cisgender women, but also for anyone who is femme, trans, non-binary, or really anyone who doesn't fit into the standard cisgender masculine community. One of my favorite aspects of Grease Rag is how grassroots and welcoming they are.  You don't have to own an expensive bicycle to belong.  You don't have to know anything about a bicycle to be welcome at one of their open shops.  You simply have to be decent person. The people who make Grease Rag possible are passionate about bicycling, and about empowering everyone and anyone who identifies as a Woman, Trans, or Femme. Personally, I love my bicycle.  I've always loved my bicycle.  I love the freedom of moving fast, under my own pedal power, and the feeling of wind on my face.  I love the being alone among people in the city, riding through Minneapolis, not having to worry about finding a place to park before I find a place for coffee.  I love realizing I'm 30 miles away from home, and that I rode there, and the only way I'm getting home is back on that bicycle - or the bus :) If you live in, or are visiting Minneapolis, I highly recommend the Grand Rounds, a bicycle tour of the city park system that encircles the city.  You'll see Minnehaha Falls, the Chain of Lakes area, the Downtown Waterfront, and a lot more scenic and natural beauty nested in an urban area. Minneapolis and Saint Paul have a fantastic bike sharing program, called Nice Ride Minnesota, that I use quite frequently, its a wonderful way to see the city or even as a transportation solution. Music for this episode is by Pixelgoth, aka Grace Lynn, a pixel artist, songwriter, and game designer.  You can check out all of the amazing Pixel Art following the link below, and while you're enjoying the art, you can listen to some of Grace Lynn's music on the Soundcloud page (see the big giant picture/link below). As always opening and bumper music for the show was provided courtesy of Obsidian Shell. Links Grease Rag's home page: http://greaserag.org/ which is chock full of calendars, links, and so much Greasy Goodness. Grease Rag on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/greaserag/ Babes in Bikeland home page: http://babesinbikeland.com/ Minneapolis Grand Rounds: http://www.minneapolisparks.org/grandrounds/home.htm Witch Hat Hill / Prospect Park: http://www.minneapolisparks.org/default.asp?PageID=4&parkid=486 Nice Ride Minnesota: https://www.niceridemn.org/ Pixelgoth Homepage: http://www.pixelgoth.com/ Pixelgoth Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/pixelgoth Obsidian Shell: http://www.obsidianshell.com/ Bad Joke(s) I bet the butcher $50 that she couldn't reach the meat from the top shelf without a step stool.  She just looked at me, and said, "Nope, I can't make that bet, you see the steaks are just too high." Why can't you hear a pterodactyl in the bathroom? Because it has a silent pee!