Tornado Watch, Storms Coming, Wilmar NOAA Station Down

I'm staying up later than usual tonight. There's a tornado warning on for this area until 2:00 a.m.

Folks in the Willmar area, about 45 miles south of here, seem to be missing a NOAA Weather Radio station. I read this a few minutes ago, online:

"Statement as of 9:34 PM CDT on May 30, 2011

"... The Willmar NOAA Weather Radio station is not transmitting...

"A local citizen alerted the National Weather Service of possible problems earlier this evening. After confirmation that information was being sent to the radio... but was not distributed from the transmitter... mndot sent a technician to the site to evaluate the problem. The technician suspects that the tower was struck by lightning as several components have melted. Parts will be ordered on Tuesday but it may take several days for the transmitter to be fixed.

"Those individuals that use the Willmar transmitter as their primary transmitter are encouraged to try the St cloud transmitter... the Olivia transmitter... the Appleton transmitter or the Kensington transmitter as alternates to receive weather and warning information. Another option is to refer to the NWS Twin Cities web Page at www.Crh.NOAA.Gov/mpx
(Sauk Centre weather, Wunderground.com)

Here's what radar for this area looked like at 10:44 p.m., about 10 minutes ago:



Trees here in Sauk Centre are thrashing around a bit, but the storm hasn't quite arrived yet.