This past weekend, the state of Minnesota experienced a blizzard. It’s the first for a while, and it seems that our area has not had as many blizzards in the past. Paul Douglas, well-known meteorologist in the Twin Cities, wrote that the Twin Cities has only had four blizzard warnings in the past twenty years. startribune.com/douglas-a-lot-of-snow-cold-and-then-the-thaw/601598959
And for those reading this blog who need definitions, the National Weather Service defines a blizzard warming as 1) Snow and/or blowing snow reducing visibility to 1/4 mile or less for 3 hours or longer AND 2) Sustained winds of 35 mph or greater or frequent gusts to 35 mph or greater.
During the winter I check the weather forecast for the upcoming Sunday on Monday. I want to know if weather is going to impact worship. This past Monday, I saw that the weather forecast shared that our area was going to get hit by snow on Saturday night and Sunday morning. Not good for worship.
And we had big plans for worship this past weekend. We had invited the Eggroll Queen Food Truck to come to worship and encouraged people to “Invite a Friend.” We’ve gotten into a routine of doing our best of having “Invite a Friend Sunday on the third Sunday of every month. And at least once a quarter we try to do something very special on those Sundays.
We had weather during the week, so the weather forecasters really didn’t focus on the weekend weather until late Thursday/early Friday. But when they did the message was consistent—the Metro area was going to get hit by a blizzard.
Less than five times in my thirty-three years of ministry have I had worship canceled because of weather. For a long time, my attitude was—“I will make it to worship even if I have to take extraordinary efforts. And whoever wants to come will be welcomed.”
However with Livestream so easily done, this attitude of doing whatever-it-takes to worship seems antiquated. If the weather is going to be really bad, why not just do a video. And that’s what we did. We did the Live Stream on Saturday at 5pm. We encouraged people to watch the Live Stream or the video. And many did. The number of people who was twice as high as normal. We did the Live Stream with five people (including me) present.
And for those who want to watch the video of worship at Chain of Lakes, go to vimeo.com/manage/videos/1171773895
The first flakes of snow started falling as we were doing the Livestream.
In advance of the blizzard, I saw a listing of the top snowfalls in the Twin Cities area. The link is here: dnr.state.mn.us/climate/journal/top_twenty_snowfalls.html
I remember many of those blizzards. I was not in the area during the infamous Halloween blizzard of 1991, but during many others I was. I went through the list and remembered stories from many of those blizzards. I remember getting stuck in a car in a blizzard many times as a boy. Certainly not something I recommend!
The biggest blizzard I remember happened January 1975. It didn’t make the top list of blizzards in terms of snowfall, but it’s the one I remember as being the strongest. We were let out of school early. The wind was fierce and it was very, very cold. I remember walking half a block and pulling out icicles from my eye lashes. It was also known as the Super Bowl Blizzard as the Vikings lost to the Steelers that weekend. According to the Famer’s Almanac web site, fourteen people died in that blizzard and twenty-one more died from heart attacks. The link to a further description of that blizzard is here: www.farmersalmanac.com/the-super-bowl-storm-of-75-18109?fbclid=IwY2xjawQlRPNleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFmc3dLaFZ1SkJ1a3h6NnRZc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHkC4suTD80DrT4P5hW5-RgSJo3P1AqE3dMM2Bdgi3v36oBcg7clgolotIGDO_aem_D07LtsfGfVhFLfw5VhAdTA
The blizzard this past weekend paled in comparison to that. We did receive about eight inches of snow in Blaine (my estimate with my eye.) I didn’t leave the house from Saturday evening to Monday morning except to blow snow. I ended up blowing snow twice and shoveling once. Thank, God for snow blowers! Parts of southern Minnesota received about twenty inches of snow.
Most of the snow will be melted by this Sunday—when we will have the Eggroll Queen at Chain of Lakes. Even though the temperature won’t get above twenty today, a lot of snow is melting because of the high angle of the sky.
Anyone who has lived in Minnesota for an extended period of time has a blizzard story. Consider sharing a story in the comments.
