Today marks the official start of spring.  But already, a few places got their first taste of severe weather on their final day of winter.
     Damage reports are not widespread but there were some reports of roofs torn off and power knocked in Elysian, that's northeast of the local area near Mankato.

     Closer to home, a few communities saw strong winds.  A wind gust of 58 mph was reported at the airport in Rochester Intl. Airport.  63 mph was recorded in Mason City.

     A semi was toppled by winds near Dexter.

     Two miles north of Albert Lea a grain bin was shifted off it's foundation by strong winds.  It's pictured above.

     In Glenville, a power pole fire caused an outage for nearly 400 people.

     Also tree limbs in a few communities sustained some damage.

Olmsted County officials are asking residents to not openly burn anything even though, technically, there is no burn ban in place.

They say the unseasonably warm weather, a lack of moisture and moderate breezes are making conditions ripe for a brush fire. There have only been four brush fires reported in the Rochester area so far this month, but the fire department says it wouldn't take much to start another one.

     "It's dry and we're running into basically the same thing we would in the summer time, if we went through a pretty good drought. There's just enough vegetation there that it doesn't take much to start it and get a fire going," said Rochester Assistant Fire Marshal Jason Whitney.

Once again, this is only a burn advisory, but officials say if the warm conditions continue, the advisory could easily turn into a ban . We'll keep you posted.