Snownado? No, thank you

GoodReads photo of a great book. Available for sale online or rent in the Ramsey County library system

            MINNEAPOLIS- Happy festivus!

            Going into the holiday break, I was stoked because I’d have a chance to read a book that caught my eye recently: “The Night the Sirens Blew” by Allen W. Taylor. He’s a local author and instructor that in 2008 wrote a blow-by-blow of the 1965 Twin Cities tornadoes.

            With some time to myself, I could probably spend the entire holiday weekend reading it, be ready to return it to the library by New Year’s.

            NOPE. I couldn’t put it down. By Christmas Eve, I was already finished.

            Speaking of weather: As I was reading in Minneapolis, light snow was falling and the temperature dropping like a rock from about 20 degrees. During the holidays last year? It was about 40 degrees and a thunderstorm was passing through.

Photographer John Croft captured a tornado closing on Moore Lake in Fridley during the May 1965 outbreak. Posted by Fridley Historical Society.

            A funnel of fear

            This book packs a punch with eyewitness accounts and data that’ll keep you hooked. On May 6, 1965, a strong line of thunderstorms blew through eastern Minnesota and the immediate metro during the late afternoon and evening hours. When all was set and done:

            -At least 8 tornado touchdowns were confirmed by weather agencies, although based off radar readings and funnel sightings from that time, there may have been more.

             

-Between a dozen and 15 people were directly killed by the tornadoes, depending on accounting. Injuries numbered well over 600.

-Damage was estimated at over $1 billion in 2007 dollars. This is for a storm event that happened over half a day.

-The tornadoes that slammed the Twin Cities that humid May evening followed a winter of heavy snowfall, and spring of record-setting flooding along the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers. 1965 was a weather-making phenomenon for Minnesota.

A few of the eyewitness stories I found particularly jarring

Eleanor Rittenour of Fridley after a tornado hit her mobile home:

“We were still trudging down the curved street… it was wall-to-wall people. No electricity, no lights… we heard sounds of crying, fear, and desperation. It was hot and stuffy. I could smell the sickening odor of vomit of some child who must have eaten a peanut butter sandwich earlier.

[After reaching a Laundromat] “Again, we were jerked into reality as someone yelled, ‘Here comes another one! Tornado!’

“We were all lying on the floor… this time, the tornado passed over us without touching the ground. Relief replaced the panic and fear which dominated that night. Future storms would cause those feelings to descend again.”

Vice-President Hubert Humphrey in Fridley after 1965 tornadoes. Photo posted on WHIO News

Stan Landberg in Columbia Heights was just east of the action:

            “The sky was a greenish, gray color, but the strange part was that it looked like cotton balls hanging down. Almost like looking from the bottom of a jar of cotton balls. It was very still outside with no wind at all…

            “I was in the kitchen looking out towards University Avenue, [and] I saw a gas station sign flying down the street and I high tailed it down to the basement with my feet barely touching the stairs!

            “I heard the kitchen window upstairs banging back and forth due to the sucking action of the tornado.”

            Bernadine Matushak was holding a girl scouts meeting in New Brighton:

            “We stood and watched the storms and saw the big tornado that hit Fridley and Mounds View around 8:30 p.m. One of the girls exclaimed, ‘What is that?’

            “As the tornado hit Fridley to [our] northwest, it was completely illuminated by lightning. Every time the lightning flashed, you could see the funnel. Then, it disappeared for a short time and came down again as a monster tornado to the north of us in Mounds View!”

            The book even included an eyewitness account from someone in my hometown, Arden Hills:

            “I was working as a busboy at [Maguire’s Restaurant] in my senior year when the storm came… we heard the sirens beginning to go off all around us and to the west, the sky took on an ugly, green color.

            “It was hot and sticky, and you could see debris and junk flying around the funnel. I was far enough away that it didn’t seem so bad. About a month later, I went over to Lake Minnetonka and there was still lots of damage from those tornadoes!”

Nothing to do with the 1965 tornadoes... but this hoodie exists?? Posted to Pinterest

My take

            I grew up in the north metro, so I definitely feel a nostalgia and connection to the events described in this book. It’s weird hearing Highway 694 in the New Brighton/Fridley/Minneapolis area going towards the Mississippi River called Highway 100. At that time, that beltway hadn’t been built into 694 as we know it today.

            The fact that at least three powerful twisters swept through North Minneapolis, Fridley, and Spring Lake Park is also amazing. As some people may know, in the 1980s there were two more big tornadoes near this area (St. Anthony/New Brighton and Brooklyn Park/Fridley), and in 2011 a tornado destroyed much of North Minneapolis.

            Moore Lake, off Highway 65 (Central Ave.) and Highway 694 in Fridley was ground zero for at least one of the tornadoes that night, and there’s a famous photograph of that twister looming over the water. In 1965, Moore Lake was home to a drive-in theater called the 100 Twin. The screen and poles looked like crumpled paper after the winds swept through. I believe this is where the Medtronic Headquarters are located today.

100 Twin Drive In in Fridley, at intersection of Highway 694 and Central Ave (Hwy 65). Photo posted to Pinterest.

            Several people affected by the storms recount their belongings being swept up by the tornadoes and found miles away: one resident recalled finding out years later some of his family's paperwork being found in northwestern Wisconsin!

            A great companion to this book would be recordings from WCCO radio that night. I listened to them, and they offer impressive eyewitness accounts from all across the metro as the tornadoes were forming and landing. I almost forgot this was happening 50 years ago, a testament to how effective the radio team and callers were able to coordinate that night.

These tornadoes occurred just when the modern suburbs were beginning to take shape, and they cut a vicious path right through them. Mother Nature can be powerful, but it seems the human will to assess and continue can be just as much so.