They brought back the footage from that day on the news/weather this morning. KARE 11 TV had had a chopper in the air nearby, filming the dancing twister for nearly an hour! That fact alone - as they put it this morning - put them "on the map". Footage is still damn impressive, looking like the chopper was about to be picked up by it if it veered even a bit closer, but I'm sure they had great zooming equipment rather than risk getting too close. How else do you follow a police chase from the air? Good lenses! But I'll give them kudos for cojones as well. So did the world.
It was one of those pleasant midsummer days, and I was back out of the way of the excitement in Golden Valley. We couriers were still radio dispatched back then, different size vehicles on separate channels with their own dispatchers. It's easier to organize the vehicle to send that way. I drove a compact all those years. Why bother me with a dock truck run? Or even a pickup load?
I'd just finished dropping a package, sitting in my car waiting for the next piece of work in my area. In the sky between me and downtown Minneapolis I was watching a cloud build. I love to watch them anyway, but this one kept my attention because it was growing quickly, roiling and churning like I'd never seen before, ever. Since dispatch was slow, I made a comment over the radio that there was something really weird going on with that cloud. Maybe there was weather brewing? When possible, we all gave each other heads-up information like that. Avoid road X, accident backing up but Y looks like a good alternative. Road Z's construction was finished, good to use again. "Mounties" patrolling at such a location, watch your speed. Dispatch could use the open channels to ask who was interested in some late work that afternoon/evening and let us bid on it or not. Computer dispatching was soon to change that. But not yet.
Shortly I got a pick-up to head up to Coon Rapids from where I was. Interesting! I'd be driving into a thunderstorm, looked like.
Suddenly the radio erupted in chatter. One of the rare fellow women drivers asked whether one stayed in their car or got out and headed for the ditch when a tornado was coming? Say what? Others piped up to warn to avoid where I was heading... so of course I headed that way... slowly. Got to get the job done, right? And I was carrying medical stuff to a company manufacturing the latest at the time, a new, large company and - to date - good customer. Scandals were still a ways off for them. I'd be coming in behind whatever the storm offered, slowly, but I'd be coming. I hoped the roads would be clear of debris by the time I got there, mentally reviewing alternated routes if needed.
There was a nature center in the area, which is where the funnel hung out for quite a while. My destination was across the road from it. On my way to them I saw all kinds of tree damage, though nothing really impacted me or prevented my little car from proceeding carefully. By the time I'd gotten that close to my destination, sirens had silenced, dispatch let us know it was officially over (but still be careful) and we had work to do, folks!
I pulled into the parking lot and walked up to the front door. Mine was a little package, not a dock delivery. The front door was locked, but I rang the bell. And again. People were just starting to emerge from somewhere within the building. A couple popped their heads out to survey possible damage, and probably assess whether they still had transportation home. A couple trees were down on their property but mostly just damage to their landscaping. Essentially that tornado had hung around next to them and never quite crossed the road!
That wasn't the most unusual thing for me that day. It turned out I wasn't the first from our company to make a delivery once the twister had passed. Their bell could be heard from wherever they were sheltering, once sirens has shut down, and somebody walked out to find one of us waiting to be let inside with their package! Boy were they impressed! And here already they had a second one. It took me a while to wonder just why they locked their door behind the first driver, but by the time that occurred to me I was down the road onto my next run. I did pass the info on to dispatch anyway. Likely some ambitious sales staffer could use it to try to impress the next potential customer.
The broken trees at the nature center eventually got cleaned up, and things regrew or got replanted. I don't recall anybody getting hurt that whole time, though there was minor property damage for such a long lasting twister. The TV footage was aired over and over and over, part of the station's self promotion, until we all forgot about it. Awards got publicized, reminding us to tell our tales again. Just like today's morning news/weather did, showing some footage just another time.
Wonder how they'll celebrate 40 years? 50?
I do know one thing. If ever I see a cloud churning and boiling like that one did 39 years ago, I plan to drive off in another direction... as fast as is safe!
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