Thanksgiving Day a decade ago had the rather bland weather conditions one could expect for late November.

Friday, November 23, 2001

Thanksgiving Day a decade ago had the rather bland weather conditions one could expect for late November. Then during the next day, Nov. 28, it started to rain. With the temperature close to 32 degrees, there was an area-wide feeling that the Halloween Megastorm of a month earlier was going to be repeated. That’s the storm which was featured in the Lifestyles section of the Tribune on Nov. 4, 2001.

With this rain also came wet snow which created sloppy driving conditions. However, the freezing conditions just didn’t quite evolve in some parts of the region.

Yet, folks in these parts were waiting for the temperature to drop a few degrees. Then the sloppy combination of rain and snow would really freeze. This in turn would cause the electrical transmission lines to again sag and short out, tree limbs to again droop and break off, and the utility poles to again sag and even break off at the ground level. And for the second time within the month of November 1991 the area could be again coping with a major electrical outage.

Here’s how the Tribune in the Sunday, Dec. 1, 1991, issue reported the actual results of that second storm:

&uot;Luckily, the weather wasn’t as severe as a month ago, and power should be restored quickly to most of those who lost it late Friday or early Saturday, according to local power officials.

&uot;There were still some scattered areas in Albert Lea without electricity Saturday … The towns of Emmons, Twin Lakes and Freeborn were without power for up to five hours, and Ellendale was in the dark for for more than two hours. … About 10 percent of Interstate Power’s customers (were) without power again. ….

&uot;Up to one-fourth of the member-owners in the Freeborn-Mower Electrical Co-op are without power. … Those 1,500 homes and businesses are in both Freeborn and Mower Counties.&uot;

After the Halloween Megastorm, several area farmers purchased gasoline-powered portable electric generators. This new storm just a decade ago seemed to justify their investments in being prepared for future emergencies.

An Associated Press news report in the Dec. 1, 1991, issue of the Tribune said, &uot;Winter won’t officially begin for three weeks, but you wouldn’t know it looking at Minnesota.&uot;

Snow up to 14 inches deep hit the Twin Cities. Slush and freezing conditions, especially in the Worthington and Owatonna areas, seemed to be the major problems further south in the state. In fact, the Associated Press called this late fall weather system Ice Storm Part II.

An article by Tribune Staff Writer Judy Juenger featured a farm couple near Hayward who were without electricity from 11:07 on Oct. 31 to 11:30 on Nov. 11 during the first storm. That’s 11 days without power. During this second storm just after Thanksgiving a decade ago the same couple didn’t have electricity from Freeborn-Mower for 11 hours. However, between the storms the couple purchased a portable electrical generator. Thus, they had water for the home and animals out in the barn and power to operate the furnace.

To close off, here’s a rather clever poem Judy created to go with one her articles about the storm in the Dec. 1, 1991, issue of the Tribune:

&uot;T’was the night of the storm and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The candles were kept by the TV with care, with hopes that the electricity would always be there. When outside the house, the thunder it clattered. I sprang from my seat, to see what was the matter.

&uot;When before my wondering eyes should appear, a burst of raindrops, more ice I did fear. On raindrop, on wind storm, on ice storm, on sleet, on overcoat, on mittens, on boots on my feet. And I heard myself exclaim before the storm was done, it’s like those potato chips, you can’t have just one.&uot;

Feature writer Ed Shannon’s column appears Fridays in the Tribune.