------------
Before I give my account of the storm that hit, I want to say a heartfelt happy birthday to my mother, whose birthday is on July 2. Happy birthday Mom!
------------
Monday, July 2 started out hot, humid and still. The temperature by noon was near 90 degrees, the humidity was over 75 percent, the dew point was 72 degrees, and there wasn't the slightest breeze to cool things down. Further, there was a greenish haze to the sky; the air was heavy. Thunderstorms, some severe, were predicted, but during the summer here at Leech Lake, there is always a chance of a thunderstorm.
We tried to stay cool by swimming in the lake, but no matter what we did, we couldn't beat the heat. Our plan was to drive to St. Cloud the next day, July 3, celebrate the Fourth of July by taking Kathleen's mom to fireworks over the Mississippi River, and eventually take Ashley to the airport early Sunday morning so she could catch her 9:00 a.m. flight back to California.
Melissa and Jayden were scheduled to fly back to San Francisco on the following Wednesday, so once we were all in St. Cloud on July 3, we planned to stay there until Wednesday, July 11. Our plan was that after Kathleen and I dropped Melissa and Jayden off at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport, we would make the 5 1/2-hour drive back up north to Leech Lake.
With everyone preparing to leave on July 3, we spent most of the day on July 2 packing, doing laundry, stowing water toys, cleaning the house, etc. All of these activities on a hot and humid day had us sweating constantly, so we took many plunges in the lake to "cool the core."
Around 6:00 p.m. I asked Melissa and Ashley if they wanted to go fishing one last time before heading back to California. They said sure, and Jayden wanted to go as well. By 6:15 p.m. we were on the dead-calm water, which was now up to 80 degrees. We tipped jigs with fathead minnows and began fishing in 10-12 feet of water between the house and cabin. Throughout the summer, this had proved to be a good place to catch perch, some jumbos, and walleye.
We fished for about 30 minutes without even a bite. Ashley had been watching the darkening southern sky with keen interest and had kept us appraised of the lightning which was heading our way. To be on the safe side, I suggested that I take the girls and Jayden to shore. They readily agreed. I planned to go back out on the lake to spend a little longer trying to catch one last walleye. If I did, I planned to cook it up for dinner. A fitting last summer meal for the kids at Leech Lake.
After dropping the kids off at the dock, I motored the boat back onto the lake. From the shore, Ashley and Jayden were both yelling, "Come back Grandpa. Come back." The lightning was getting closer and it was scaring them, especially Jayden. In fact, the little guy started crying, so I decided I should turn around and come ashore myself; if for no other reason that to calm the nerves of Ashley and Jayden. And besides, I thought to myself, maybe they know something about this storm that I don't.
I got the boat onto the lift, and just as a precautionary measure, I raised the lift a little higher than I typically do -- "just in case," I thought. I went next door and held Jayden and comforted him, telling him thank you for asking that I come ashore.
While I was coming back on shore, Kathleen, brought the water toys off the dock, folded down the lawn chairs and laid them flat on the dock, brought in our towels and generally got things off the dock in case a thunderstorm did hit.
By 7:00 p.m. we were all sitting on the back porch watching the sky, which had turned an ominous shade of dark greenish yellow. It looked as if the entire sky were badly bruised. Brilliant streaks of white lightning filled the air which had gotten even heavier and more oppressive.
Just before 7:15 p.m., with the temperature hovering at a very hot 90 degrees, we noticed that the flag, which had hanged limp all day, began to flutter. Just slightly, but it was starting to move. Within seconds we could all feel a drop in temperature. I could tell the storm was on the way and suggested we move inside and shut the windows.
In the time it took us to stand up and go inside, the west wind picked up to a point where the flag was straight out from the flag pole, the trees were bending and it made it difficult to crank shut our big windows in the living room. In fact, as I cranked the last window closed, the wind blew so hard that it broke the cranking mechanism in the window.
The sky, which had already been dark darkened even further to where it was hard to tell that it wasn't yet nighttime. We quickly turned on the marine band radio and tuned into NOAA's weather station and heard that there was a severe thunderstorm warning for northern Cass County (where Leech Lake is located) and that people should seek shelter immediately.
Lightning flashes were followed immediately by loud crashes of thunder as the storm moved on top of us. Branches were falling from trees. The lawn chairs that Kathleen had laid flat on the dock were blown into the lake. Rain was pounding down so hard that from our lakeside windows the lake itself could not be seen. The sky was as dark as night and then the lights flickered and the power went out. We were left in darkness as we scrambled for flashlights and candles.
Ashley and Jayden were both very scared as we made our way into a back bedroom walk-in closet; inside walls. We could hear a roar outside and thought that if it wasn't a tornado it was certainly close in terms of wind speeds. The temperature outside had plummeted by nearly 20 degrees as the wind continued to roar, the lightning flashed, the thunder crashed and the rain came down heavier than the most power shower head could ever produce.
At one point I left the safety of the inside-walled closet to take a look outside. Melissa followed me, which of course meant that Jayden wanted to see too, who was accompanied by Kathleen with Ashley right behind them. We all looked outside as our heavy Hot Dog water tube was lifted by the wind and blown a hundred feet or more ending up along side our house. The waves were so huge that they crashed a good 10 feet on shore.
Melissa noticed that the wind and waves had dislodged a section of our dock which was now hanging off the rest of the dock, bobbing up and down in the heavy waves of the lake. Our flag pole was nowhere to be seen. A large crack of thunder directly overhead shook our house and sent us scurrying back to the closet for safety.
 |
| A section of our dock broken off by the high waves from the storm |
The dock was twisted and battered. The flag pole was gone, somewhere on the bottom of the lake. One of the new zero-gravity lounge chairs Kathleen had just got us for our anniversary was gone, somewhere on the bottom of the lake. One large 4x8 section of dock hung in lake. A 2-foot diameter old cedar tree on the property line between our house and Newman's was snapped off mid-trunk. Several other large trees on Newman's property were broken off and were laying in heaps.
 |
| A large cedar tree snapped in half by the storm's 80 mph winds |
I then slowly made my way past the fallen trees to check on Newman's property. I found John's boat bobbing up and down in his harbor. Despite being sheltered in a harbor, the giant waves from the storm had lifted his boat off the boat lift and deposited it in the water of the harbor. Luckily, the boat stayed in the harbor and didn't find its out into the lake; that might have caused serious damage to the boat. As it was, I lowered the boat lift into the water, grabbed hold of John's boat, guided it back onto the lift and then raised the lift -- higher than usual -- thus securing the boat. I then did a quick walk around the Newman's cabin, but could see no damage to any of their structures.
By 8:30 p.m., the wind had died down to a gentle breeze, the rain had stopped, the clouds had mostly cleared and we ended up having a beautiful red sunset.
 |
| The red sunset over Leech Lake after the big storm on July 2, 2012 |
It was the biggest, most severe storm I've been through. Not only here at Leech Lake, but anywhere. The color of the sky, the strength of the wind, the amount of rain, the size of the waves on the lake, all of it was beyond anything I'd ever seen. That is until the next day when we left our house at Leech Lake and made our way south to St. Cloud.
Posts
