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A large wall of thick, rotating clouds moved over the Midwest Saturday afternoon, with tornadoes and funnel clouds appearing across the region.
A line of storms stretching from the Canadian border into South Dakota formed and moved southeast across the region. The storms started near the Walhalla, N.D., area, National Weather Service meteorologist Pete Speicher said.
“It looks like it got the most intense once it got south of Highway 2,” he said, with the storm paralleling Interstate 29.
Stormchaser Kevin Mahoney of Grand Forks started his day at about noon in Walhalla, and followed the storm cells southeast to Mayville, N.D. He guessed he had logged about 400 miles on the road pursuing funnel clouds across North Dakota.
The storm did not disappoint, Mahoney said, producing several tornadoes.
“I saw six of them,” he said. “It was a heck of a day.”
The storm triggered numerous reports of tornadoes and funnel clouds, including reported touchdowns near the North Dakota cities of Adams, Arvilla, Edinburg, Fingal, Fordville, Gardar, Hatton, Hope, Inkster, Larimore, Logan Center and Sharon.
Mahoney estimated the longest touchdown was about 10 minutes, but “most of them touched down for only two or three minutes, then dissipated. But they kept on coming.”
The Traill County Sheriff’s Office reported structural damage — mostly trees — about 10 miles
northeast of Hope, according to NWS. Speicher said the weather service had not received any other reports of damage or injuries as of 8 p.m.
A funnel cloud was also reported above Grand Forks Air Force Base, though NWS could not confirm if it touched the ground. Multiple funnel clouds were reported across eastern North Dakota.
Speicher said meteorologists will be busy confirming the tornado reports on Sunday and Monday. NWS should have a list of confirmed sightings early this week.
The storm cells produced strong winds, lightning, rain and hail, with some as large as 3 inches. The line of storms also prompted tornado watches and warnings for eastern North Dakota and northeastern Minnesota from Saturday afternoon into the evening.
The storm cells weakened slightly as it moved over Fargo, though hail was still being reported in southeastern North Dakota. The storm continued to move into central Minnesota as of 8 p.m.
Courtesy of grandforksherald.com
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