Minnesota storms cause State Fair delay, keep cleanup crews busy

WE HAVE TEAM COVERAGE OF THE WEATHER TONIGHT. KAREN SCULLIN AND CORIN HOGGARD TALKING WITH PEOPLE THROUGHOUT THE METRO TODAY. AND ROB OLSON AND CHIEF METEOROLOGIST IAN LEONARD ARE HERE ON THE FAIRGROUNDS. LET'S START WITH IAN TONIGHT. IAN, A MUCH DIFFERENT STORY THAN IT WAS EVEN THIS MORNING OUT HERE. YEAH. YOU KNOW, WE TALKED ABOUT IT YESTERDAY. THE POSSIBILITY OF TWO ROUNDS OF STRONG, SEVERE STORMS AND A LOT OF QUESTIONS. FIRST QUESTION WAS IF THERE WAS A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING, WHY WERE THE TORNADO SIRENS BLARING ACROSS THE TWIN CITIES METRO. AND IT'S A GREAT QUESTION. ANYTIME WE TALK ABOUT A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING WHERE WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO EXCEED 70MPH, THOSE SIRENS ARE GOING TO GO SORT OF AN EXTRA LAYER OF, HEY, PLEASE PAY ATTENTION. SO TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION, IN TERMS OF THE WINDS THAT CAME THROUGH, THE MASSIVE POWER OUTAGES, THE TREES BLOWN DOWN, WE USE DOPPLER INFERRED VELOCITY AND ABOUT 1000FT ABOVE THE SURFACE, DOPPLER WINDS WERE ANYWHERE BETWEEN 90 AND 100 PLUS MILES PER HOUR. WIND SPEEDS ON THE GROUND ENDED UP BEING CLOSER AT 70 TO 87MPH. I HAVE TREES DOWN ALL ACROSS MY NEIGHBORHOOD. MY NEIGHBORHOOD IS NO MORE SPECIAL THAN EVERYONE ELSE'S, BUT TODAY DECIDEDLY DIFFERENT. A NICE DAY. WE HAD THE CLOUD COVER TO HOLD BACK THE HEAT, BUT OF COURSE THE FORECAST IS A BEAUTIFUL ONE TONIGHT. NOT A LOT OF HEAT, BUT I BET WE CAN ADD SOME. SO I WENT IN THE CROWD AND I FOUND FOUND PEOPLE AND AS I USUALLY DO. YOUR NAME? ETHAN. ETHAN, IF YOU KNOW THE SHOW. HOT ONES. OH, ABSOLUTELY. WE ARE GOING TO PLAY HOT ONES WITH THE HOTTEST HOT SAUCE ON THE FAIRGROUNDS LIVE. AND OF COURSE, WITH YOUR FORECAST COMING UP AT 515. ARE YOU READY? ABSOLUTELY. HE'S NOT READY. HE HAS NO IDEA WHAT HE'S DOING. BUT WE'LL GET THINGS BACK TO YOU. IT'S STILL CLEANUP DAY AFTER THOSE MASSIVE STORMS LAST NIGHT. AND AGAIN, THIS MORNING. WIND HAIL. RAIN. TREES FALLING APART. IT WAS CRAZY. AND THAT IS A PRETTY GOOD DESCRIPTION OF WHAT WE SAW HERE IN THE FAIRGROUNDS. IT WAS A BIT CRAZY FOR THE FOLKS OUT HERE. FAIR STAFF AND VENDORS WORKING HARD THIS MORNING TO PICK UP WHAT WAS BLOWN AROUND BY THE WIND IN THAT OVERNIGHT STORM. TWO HITS OF STORM ONE AROUND 7:00 LAST NIGHT, THE OTHER ONE WEE HOURS OF THE MORNING THIS MORNING. SO I'M NOT ABLE TO REOPEN TODAY LIKE THE MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, THEY WERE UNABLE TO. ROB OLSON HAS BEEN ALL OVER THE FAIRGROUNDS TODAY. JUST SEEING WHAT THE STATUS OF THINGS ARE. AND EVERYTHING LOOKS GREAT NOW. ROB. BUT HOW DID IT LOOK EARLIER TODAY? WELL, I TELL YOU WHAT, THE CLEANUP HAPPENED VERY, VERY QUICKLY AS YOU WALK AROUND NOW, I MEAN, YOU NOTICE STUFF LIKE THIS, LIKE YOU MIGHT SEE IN YOUR YARD, JUST SOME LEAVES AND TINY STICKS THROUGHOUT THE FAIRGROUNDS. OTHER THINGS YOU MAY NOT NOTICE, LIKE THE CANOPY OF THE GIANT SLIDE IS NOT THERE, GOT BLOWN AWAY AGAIN, THAT'S SOMETHING THAT YOU MAY NOT NOTICE THAT WAS DELAYED OPENING, AS WERE OTHER RIDES OUT HERE, AS RIDE INSPECTORS HAD TO MAKE SURE THAT EVERYTHING WAS OKAY AND NOT DAMAGED. AND AS YOU MENTIONED AT THE TOP, A RARE IF NOT UNHEARD OF DELAYED OPENING TO EVEN LETTING PEOPLE IN THE GATES ONE AT A TIME TO THE DETECTORS. IN RECENT HISTORY, WE HAVE NO RECORD OF STARTING LATE. THOSE WHO RUN THE FAIR DON'T RECALL WHEN THIS HAS EVER HAPPENED BEFORE. A TWO HOUR DELAY BEFORE THEY COULD LET ANYONE IN. WHILE THOSE WHO HAD ALREADY ARRIVED SIMPLY HAD TO WAIT. NEEDED BECAUSE OF ALL THE WORK TO DO ACROSS THE GROUNDS, TO SWEEP UP, TO PICK UP, TO CLEAN UP FOR VENDORS, MOSTLY JUST DRYING EVERYTHING OUT. WE BROUGHT TOWELS. WE BROUGHT BROOMS, WE BROUGHT THINGS TO CLEAN THE BOOTH UP WITH MINOR DAMAGE AT SOME BOOTHS, WITH THINGS KNOCKED OVER, MOSTLY TENTS AND BARRIERS AND BANNERS. NOTHING MAJOR REPORTED. WELL, WE HAD MOST OF OUR AWNINGS BLOW IN OVERNIGHT AND WATER OBVIOUSLY CAME THROUGH AND, YOU KNOW, SOAKED MOST OF DISPLAYS AND PRICE TAGS. BUT LUCKILY WE WORK WITH MOSTLY METAL SO IT'LL DRY OUT, GETS HIT HARD AROUND 5:45 A.M, A BIT MORE THAN AN HOUR BEFORE GATES NORMALLY OPEN, 50 TO 65 MILE AN HOUR GUSTS, ACCORDING TO THE WEATHER SERVICE. ALONG WITH THE TORRENTIAL RAINS, I ALMOST LOST MY DOOR TO MY BUNKHOUSE AND EVERYTHING BECAUSE I WAS LOOKING OUTSIDE TO SEE WHAT WAS GOING ON AND IT ALMOST SNATCHED IT OUT OF MY HANDS. WHEN IT WAS ALL SAID AND DONE, A HANDFUL OF TREES WERE DOWN AROUND THE GROUNDS, DAMAGED LIMBS THAT NEEDED REMOVAL FOR SAFETY. ONE MINOR INJURY TO AN EMPLOYEE FROM A FALLING BRANCH. HE'S FINE. SHELTER. THE FIRST ROUND MONDAY EVENING WAS A LOT LESS DAMAGING, SENT PEOPLE INTO SHELTERS, CAUSED MINOR FLOODING, INSPIRED SOME PRETTY INADVISABLE ENTERTAINMENT, AND IT CANCELED THE HAPPY TOGETHER GRANDSTAND SHOW BECAUSE THE LIGHTNING PERSISTED. LIGHTNING HAS TO BE OUT OF THE AREA BY EIGHT MILES FOR AT LEAST A HALF AN HOUR. BUT NOW, AFTER TWO ROUNDS OF SEVERE WEATHER FOR THE MOST PART, EVERYTHING BACK UP AND RUNNING. JUST GLAD TO SEE US BACK OPEN HERE AT 9 A.M. YEAH THE OTHER THING THAT AGAIN, YOU PROBABLY WON'T NOTICE IS A LITTLE BIT LESS SHADE HERE BECAUSE OF ALL THOSE TREES. THOSE WERE QUICKLY MOVED OUT OF HERE. AND NOW YOU JUST SEE MAYBE SOME STUMPS LEFT BEHIND IN TERMS OF SEVERE WEATHER AT THE FAIR. CERTAINLY WE'VE HAD SOME FLASH FLOODING IN RECENT YEARS, BUT THE FAIR SAYS THE LAST TIME THEY REMEMBER ANYTHING LIKE THIS WAS SOME STRAIGHT LINE WIND DAMAGE THAT WAS ALMOST 20 YEARS AGO, AND THAT WAS A COUPLE OF WEEKS BEFORE THE FAIR OPEN. SO AGAIN, NOTHING THAT IMPACTED THE FAIR ITSELF. AND AGAIN, THEY SAY THIS WAS GOOD, THAT IT