Updraft Category Archive: Land Hurricane 2010

"Octobomb" 1 year later

Posted at 5:25 PM on October 26, 2011 by Paul Huttner
Filed under: Land Hurricane 2010

It was a little windy last year at this time.

The October 2010 "Octobomb" or "Landicane" swept through Minnesota 1 year ago on October 26th-27th.

Record setting "Octobomb" low pressure winds up in Minnesota last October.

The massive Low pressure system, a "mid-latitude", or "extra tropical cyclone" set the all time low pressure record for the state of Minnesota. The details from the Twin Cities NWS.

"At 5:13 pm on October 26th, a pressure of 955.2 mb* (28.21 inches of mercury) was observed at Big Fork, Minnesota, located in the north central part of the state. The previous record was 962.7 millibars (28.43"), set on November 10, 1998 at both Albert Lea, MN and Austin, MN."

GOES visible satellite image from last year's "Octobomb."

The massive wind storm produced severe T-Storm strength wind gusts as high as 63 mph in Redwood Falls and Appleton, and gusts as high as 62 mph in the Twin Cities.

The system was unique in that two separate low pressure systems merged over Minnesota to create the deep intense record setting low. One low formed over northeast Colorado. A second low near the Black Hills in South Dakota merged with the Colorado low as they moved into Minnesota.

The merger of the two lows contributed to the intensification of the overall system.

Barometers Showing Low Pressure on Oct 26, 2010
Courtesy: Minnesota State Climatology Office

Our quiet weather pattern this year is quite a contrast from the record setting low pressure of October 26-27 2010!

PH

Grand Marais: Amazing "Landicane '10" storm photos

Posted at 5:16 PM on October 29, 2010 by Paul Huttner (1 Comments)
Filed under: Fall, Land Hurricane 2010, Storms

Check out the excellent pictures from the Duluth NWS website by photographer Bryan Hansel.

The images show the impacts of the storm in Grand Marais Harbor. The photos, taken Wednesday, show the effects of high waves and heavy surf pounding Grand Marais Harbor during the overnight and early morning hours early Wednesday.

Huge wave slams the lighthouse on Grand Marais Harbor.

Wave break shoots a jet of water well above top of lighthouse which stands 48 feet above Lake Superior on a quiet day.

Compare the above images with my image below taken in August.

The pounding surf took its toll on boats in Grand Marais Harbor Wednesday.

Boat beached near the Angry Trout Cafe on the southwest end of Grand Marais Harbor. Highway 61 is just a few feet above this boat.

Sailboat suffers the same fate on the other end of the harbor. No "sailor's delight" here.

The "storm surge" also innundated the harbor breakwater at times. Check out the reference image I took below in August (of my son Luke) and the breakwater on a quieter day.

Comapre the above image with the Bryan Hansel photo from Wednesday.

Waves pound and overrun the breakwater at Grand Marais Wednesday.

As for wave heights, the western mid-lake bouy Station 45006 locatd 48NM North of Ironwood, MI. (about 50 mi SE of Grand Marais) recorded wave heights of nearly 19 feet at the height of the storm around daybreak Wednesday morning.

Waves reached at least 26 feet in eastern Lake Superior at the buoy Wednesday on Slate Island near the Ontario shore.

It is reasonable to infer that waves of at least 10 to 15+ feet pounded Grand Marais Harbor Tuesday night and Wednesday.

Pretty amazing stuff for the Land Hurricane of 2010!

PH

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