Welcome back to my corner!

I hope I can bring some interesting tidbits to you every month right here in my special spot. You might know I spent over 40 years delivering the weather forecast to listeners and viewers on KSTP TV. Here in the valley, we haven't had a shortage of severe weather over the years. I'm going to mention a few events that have stuck in our memories for years.

We've all said this at one time or another, "Do you remember when?" Even though most of our weather is uneventful, there have been a few storms that stand out in our memories, or at the very least, get a mention in the history books. On average, Wisconsin gets 23 tornadoes per year. The greatest number was 62 in 2005. The least number of tornadoes was 1 in 1952.

Even though specifically Kinnickinnic hasn't had a considerable amount of destructive severe weather events, the western Wisconsin region has. The deadliest tornado in Wisconsin state history happened in this area in 1899, 32 years after the Kinnickinnic Church was built. On June 12 that year 117 people lost their lives as a large tornado ripped through St. Croix County, while 125 others were injured that day. The destruction was horrific.

Another tornado of note in the area happened on June 4th, 1958. A very large EF5 tornado ripped through the community of Colfax a little after 7 PM. 12 people died while several hundred people were injured in and around Colfax.

Please check back next month as we dive into the history on fishing on the Kinnickinnic River!

Next Time, Dave