The tornadoes that hit Minnesota this week were the earliest on record in Minneosta. It surprised me that they hit this early in the year, but I was not surprised to see that one of them hit Clarks Grove in Freeborn County.

I worked for eight years at the newspaper in Albert Lea, just a few miles south of Clarks Grove, and in those eight years I saw more tornadoes than I have in the rest of my life. Something about the flat geography that part of Minnesota just lends itself to big storm systems rolling through. Living in the Minnesota and Cottonwood river valleys I have seen storm systems seemingly turn this way or that way. The river valleys seem to disrupt the air currents here.

I remember one tornado in particular that came up suddenly from the south, hit the industrial area south of Albert Lea Lake and the Wilson Foods plant. Then it skipped over the lake and touched down on the other side. One of the first buildings it hit was the city ambulance building. Then it tore across several blocks of residences, heading almost perpendicular to the streets.

It wasn’t a large tornado, but it left a very interesting trail of damage. It struck the two houses in the middle of each block, causing heavy damage. One house was knocked six feet back off of its foundation. You could stand in the front yard and look into the basement. Another house had the roof and the front peeled off. It looked like a doll house that had been opened up.

On the houses on either side of the two damaged houses there might have been a broken window or a missing shingle.

Of course, nothing I saw in Albert Lea compared to the tornadoes that tore through Comfrey and St. Peter in 1998, scouring the countryside as it passed through.

Tornadoes are extremely dangerous and unpredictable. It may be early in the season for them, but it’s never too early to know what to do when they hit.