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What are frost quakes? | kare11.com
People around Lake Minnetonka have reported hearing loud booms, along with their homes shaking. A cause hasn’t been confirmed but one possibility is frost quakes.
ORONO, Minn. — Sunday after 10 a.m., Penny Saiki was drinking her second cup of coffee when all of a sudden her home shook.
“There was a great big, huge boom and I thought something exploded. But it felt like it should have been in my basement. That’s how loud it was,” Saiki recalled.
Saiki said she wasn’t sure what came first: The boom or the shaking. But she said it lasted only a second.
Saiki, who lives on Casco Point Road in Orono, said, “I’ve been here since ’96… that’s 27 years and this is the first time I felt it.”
On the Facebook group, “The Lake Minnetonka Fan Club” other people who live around the lake also reported similar stories starting last Wednesday.
Hennepin County dispatch said they have not received any calls related to the sound. While a cause has not been confirmed, some online speculated that frostquakes could be behind the mysterious booms.
“Effectively, what’s happening is you have frozen ground, because there’s some water in the soil that freezes and the whole ground is frozen, and all of a sudden a crack forms really rapidly. When that happens, that releases energy that sometimes you can hear, and that’s the boom. And sometimes it causes shaking,” explained Lars Hansen, associate professor in the Earth & Environmental Sciences department at the University of Minnesota.
Hansen said frostquakes need a combination of favorable moisture levels in the soil and rapidly changing temperatures. This month we had snow, followed by temperatures above freezing, before Arctic air moved in.
“Anytime there are big changes in temperature, then the frozen ground is trying to expand or contract depending on whether or not it’s heating or cooling. When it does, that builds up stress that then can be released through a crack,” Hansen said. “So really any sort of rapid temperature change could lead to this but it seems more likely to happen when it’s cooling off rapidly.”
CNN reported that frostquakes were felt around Chicago last week. Illinois state climatologist Trent Ford told CNN there is no formal reporting system for frostquakes.
Frostquakes typically happen when there is little snow to insulate the ground.
“Your frozen ground needs to be susceptible to these changes in temperature… if it’s buffered from that by snowpack, then you’re less likely to have these cracks forming,” Hansen said.
Sometimes a frost quake will be visible with a crack in the ground while at other times it won’t be. Hansen said frostquakes seem to be less prevalent in Minnesota.
Frost quakes are different from ice quakes.
“Ice quakes will happen in frozen lakes and a lot of people are probably really familiar with this where in the mornings or evenings, just due to the expansion or contraction of the ice, it’ll form cracks and you can hear them opening and moving through the lake. But you’ll notice that that’s more frequent when the temperatures are changing. So same idea except that’s ice on the surface of a lake, as opposed to the frozen soil on the ground,” Hansen said.
Saiki said it does not appear there is any damage to her home.
“It is really wild. And it’s… nature and it’s the first time I’ve heard it. So it was like… what a freak of nature,” said Saiki, laughing.
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The council argues that the HERC must be closed to comply with the city’s zero waste policy, which was passed back in 2017.
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved a plan to shut down the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC) on Thursday.
The resolution comes after decades of protests against the massive North Loop trash incinerator that burns roughly 365,000 tons of garbage a year.
“Today is a big step towards protecting the health of our communities and addressing longstanding environmental injustices that disproportionately impact communities of color,” said councilmember Robin Wonsley, in a statement.
The resolution calls for the incinerator to be permanently closed by Dec 31, 2027 and for the entire facility to be shut down by Dec 31, 2033.
The council argues that the HERC must be closed to comply with the city’s zero waste policy, which was passed back in 2017.
In October 2023, the Hennepin County Board signed off on a plan to close the HERC between 2028 and 2040, depending on how quickly the county can transition into a zero-waste system.
Of the garbage burned at the HERC, 75% comes from the city of Minneapolis. The other 25% comes from a dozen other cities in the area. The HERC produces enough energy to power more than 25,000 homes and half the buildings in downtown Minneapolis.
At a City Council Meeting on Oct. 10, Jenni Lansing with the City of Minneapolis Health Department provided analysis on the air pollution impacts of HERC. She said the health department supports working towards a zero-waste future and the ultimate closure of HERC, but said closing it now is not the solution.
“Overall emissions in Hennepin County are dominated by on-road and non-road, mobile and nonpoint sources, and these sources drive the cancer and non-cancer risks to health in Minneapolis,” Lansing said.
Hennepin County defines zero waste as preventing 90% or more of all discarded materials from being landfilled or incinerated.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
The snow is really coming down in some places with Maple Lake getting 3.5″ so far.
GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — The wettest Halloween storm ever — is making mischief before little trick-or-treaters hit their neighborhood’s slushy streets.
Officials are reporting several power outages and car spin-outs.
There have been over 14,000 power outages, according to Xcel Energy.
The Minnesota State Patrol has responded to 169 crashes and 94 vehicles off the road, as of 2. pm. Thursday.
Meteorologist Beny Dery said an additional 1 to 2″ of snow is possible before things taper off this evening.
So far some of the totals around town are: 3.5″ Maple Lake, 3.0″ Buffalo, 2.5″ Dassel, 2.4″ Windom, 2.0″ St. Bonifacious, 1.5″ Maple Plain and 1.5″ in Bethel.
The snow is expected to let up from west to east and should wrap up for the metro between 5 to 6 p.m.
Last week, prosecutors charged John Sawchak with attempted 2nd-degree murder and other felony charges after he allegedly shot his neighbor Davis Moturi.
MINNEAPOLIS — Following the shooting between two neighbors, the Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously to request that the city’s auditor conduct an independent investigation into the incidents and cases between Davis Moturi and John Sawchak.
Moturi was allegedly shot by his neighbor, Sawchak, on Wednesday, Oct. 23 but Minneapolis police did not arrest Sawchak until days later.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara defended not arresting Sawchak sooner, calling it a “high-risk” situation. O’Hara later said the victim, who had complained about harassment from Sawchak for months, was failed by police. Sawchak was arrested this past weekend after an hours-long standoff.
Moturi suffered a fractured spine, two broken ribs, and a concussion in the shooting. “Mr. Moturi’s life matters and I’m sorry that for nearly a year, MPD did not treat it like it did,” said Council Member Robin Wonsley in a news release, “Today’s vote affirms that the City Council is committed to taking meaningful actions towards accountability and restoration, starting with this independent review.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey released this statement:
“Mayor Frey fully supports an independent review of this incident. The mayor and City are committed to always doing better, and this means closely examining past actions and finding where there may be ways to improve and grow. The mayor extends his condolences to Davis Moturi, his wife, Caroline, and their family and friends. The safety of our residents is a top priority and any form of violence or hate speech is completely unacceptable and does not align with who we are as a community. Brian O’Hara will continue to be the Minneapolis Police Chief.”
