Name: Funnel Cloud in North Dakota, July 15, 2001
Start: 2001-07-15T16:13
End: 2001-07-15T16:13
Location: North Dakota

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Bismarck, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 15, 2:35 PM CST, 1 hour 38 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 15, 2:35 PM CST, 1 hour 38 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
335 PM CDT SUN JUL 15 2001

...UPDATED FOR FLASH FLOOD WATCH...

ALL 3 MODELS INITIALIZED A VORT MAXIMA IN NORTHWEST SD. ETA/AVN MOVED
IT TO NEAR KBIS BY 18Z WHILE NGM HELD IT BACK OVER SOUTHWEST ND. MAX
IS ILL DEFINED AND HARD TO PICK OUT ON WATER VAPOR SATELLITE...BUT
BEST PLACEMENT BASED ON RADAR WOULD BE SOMEWHERE BETWEEN THE ABOVE 2
SCENARIOS. WITH THAT WILL LEAN TO ETA/AVN...BUT THEY ARE ONLY IN
AGREEMENT UNTIL THIS EVENING...THEN STRAY ENOUGH TO INFLUENCE THE
FORECAST POPS. AVN WRAPS SURFACE FEATURE UP MORE OVER WESTERN ND AND
BULLSEYES QPF THERE...WHILE ETA KEEPS MORE OF AN OPEN WAVE AND PULLS
HIGH AMOUNTS OF QPF THROUGH THE BISMARCK CWA. I SEE NO GOOD REASON
TO GO WITH EITHER MODEL COMPLETELY...SO WILL COMPROMISE AND BLANKET
THE CWA WITH POPS THROUGH MONDAY MORNING...ENDING SW TO NE ON
MONDAY. AS FOR SEVERE WEATHER TONIGHT...HIGH DEWS ACROSS ND
NOW...+60 WITH A LOT OF CONVECTIVE DEBRIS CLOUD LEFT BEHIND ONGOING
CONVECTION. AM THINKING THAT RISK IS GOING MORE TO HEAVY RAIN IN
SOUPY AIR...AND THAT SEVERE RISK IS DECREASING. IF CLEARING CAN WORK
IN BY LATE AFTERNOON THE RISK OF SEVERE WILL INCREASE AGAIN.

NEXT SYSTEM IN LATER TUESDAY IN CONTINUED SOUTHWEST FLOW...AS
H5 LOW MEANDERS OVER THE NORTHERN US/SOUTHERN CANADIAN ROCKIES. AS
H5 LOW PUSHES EAST ND REMAINS IN SW FLOW ALOFT WITH A CONTINUED
CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS. AS FAR AS TEMPERATURES...MAV AND FWC ARE
IN GOOD AGREEMENT ALL EXCEPT ISN ON MONDAY HIGH AND BIS ON TUESDAY
HIGH.

TRAINING OF CELLS OVER SIOUX AND EMMONS COUNTY...FLASH FLOOD WATCH
TONIGHT.

.BIS...FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR SIOUX AND EMMONS COUNTIES IN SOUTH
       CENTRAL ND TONIGHT...NDZ045-046.

JP MARTIN

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 15, 11:09 AM CST, 5 hours 4 minutes before

NDZ001-009-151910-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILLISTON ND
1209 PM CDT SUN JUL 15 2001

LOCAL RADAR INDICATES AN AREA OF RAIN SHOWERS PERSISTING OVER
EASTERN DIVIDE AND WILLIAMS COUNTIES THIS AFTERNOON. PRECIPITATION
FROM THIS ACTIVITY WILL BE GENERALLY LIGHT...WITH SOME PERIODS OF
MODERATE RAIN POSSIBLE. THE SHOWERS CAN BE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE
OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS.

THOMSON

The radar

The Bismarck radar (KBIS), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:11 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.

Funnel Cloud, Emmons

When: July 15, 4:13 PM CST
Where: Emmons County, Strasburg
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 46.285, -100.239 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Funnel Cloud: A rotating column of cloud extending from a thunderstorm that did not reach the ground.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in North Dakota in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in North Dakota, July 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5256874.