1 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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.
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 Grand Forks, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 6, 1:30 PM CST, 3 hours earlier.
FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND 230 PM CDT SUN MAY 6 2001 .OVERVIEW... STACKED LOW CONTINUES TO SLOWLY MOVE NORTH/NORTHEAST...AS IT MERGEST WITH NORTHERN UPPER WAVE. BAND OF CONVECTION CONTINUES TO SPREAD NORTH INTO RED RIVER VALLEY AND WEST CENTRAL MN. RUC40 CAPES OF AROUND 1000 J/KG NEAR CONVECTION...AND AMPLE MOISTURE WILL CONTINUE TO FUEL STORMS AS THEY RIDE NORTHEAST. ETA HAS DONE A GOOD JOB WITH SYSTEM TODAY...AND WILL UTILIZE FOR THIS PACKAGE. .SHORT TERM... LI/S NEAR -2C AND CAPES OF 1300 J/KG PERSIST IN RED RIVER VALLEY INTO MN FA UNTIL ABOUT 4Z...BEFORE STABLE AIR MOVES IN. AS SFC LOW LIFTS INTO SOUTHEAST MB BY 06Z...EXPECT SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IN NORTHWEST MN. 850MB THETA E AROUND 320K COUPLED WITH STRONG SFC MOISTURE CONVERGENCE WILL AID THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT UNTIL AROUND 4Z. WITH SLOW MOVEMENT OF NORTH/SOUTH BOUNDARY...SOME TRAINING OF THUNDERSTORMS MAY OCCUR NEAR THE VALLEY. NOT TOO CONCERNED ABOUT FLASH FLOODING THOUGH...WITH FFG GUIDANCE VERY HIGH. IF BACKING OCCURS NORTH OF SFC LOW...SOME LOW TOPPED SUPERCELLS ARE POSSIBLE. SPC HAS INCLUDED MOST OF VALLEY IN A SLIGHT RISK UTIL 00Z...WITH BIGGEST THREAT BEING A FEW TORNADOES AND DAMAGING WIND. FEEL INSTABILITY IS ONLY LIMITING FACTOR...BUT 0-6KM SHEAR AROUND 45-50KT IS SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT SUPERCELLS. ANY SPINUP TORNADOES WILL PROBABLY BE TOUGH TO SEE ON RADAR...AS CIRCULATIONS WILL BE TIGHT. I AM ALSO A BIT CONCERNED WITH UPPER LOW AND VORT MAX SWINGING INTO NORTHWEST MN THIS EVENING...WHICH WILL HELP PRODUCE LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN HERE AS WELL. ELSEWHERE OVERNIGHT...DRIER AIR CONTINUES TO ADVECT IN AS UPPER LOW MERGES OVER SOUTHWEST MB BY 12Z. IN ADDITION...STRONG Q VECTOR DIVERGENCE ENVELOPES FA AFTER 06Z...SO WIDESPREAD SHOWER ACTIVITY SHOULD DISSIPATE AFTER MIDNIGHT. THERE WILL BE SOME WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS THOUGH WITH UPPER LOW AND VORT MAX. TEMPS WON/T DROP TOO MUCH WITH PLENTY OF CLOUDS AND PRECIP AROUND. EXPECT COLDEST READING OF AROUND 45 IN DVL AREA...WITH 50 EXPECTED IN SOUTHEAST. .LONG TERM... UPPER LOW CLOSES OF MONDAY...AND WILL INCH ALONG INTERNATIONAL BORDER WITH -26C 500MB COLD POOL. DEEP LAYERED CYCLONIC FLOW AND CONVECTIVE TEMPS IN THE UPPER 40S WILL PRODUCE SHOWERS ACROSS FA. CAN/T EVEN RULE OUT A RUMBLE OF THUNDER IN SOUTH...WHERE LI/S APPROACH -2C. MOISTURE WILL BE LIMITED THOUGH...AS SFC DEWPOINTS DROP INTO THE MIDDLE 30S TO NEAR 40. TEMPS WILL HAVE A HARD TIME RISING MUCH ABOVE 50 IN THE NORTH...TO AROUND 55 IN THE SOUTH WITH 850MB TEMPS APPROACHING 0C. MONDAY NIGHT...EXPECT MORE SHOWERS...ESPECIALLY ACROSS NORTHERN FA CLOSER TO SFC LOW AND BETTER MID LAYER FORCING PER Q VECTOR CONVERGENCE IN 850-500MB LEVEL. TEMPS WON/T DROP TOO MUCH BY TUESDAY MORNING...AND BE IN THE 40-45 DEGREE RANGE. EXPECT SLIGHT MODERATION ON TUESDAY...WITH THE UPPER LOW SLOWLY PULLING AWAY. THERE MAYBE SOME SUNNY BREAKS LATE WITH THE THREAT OF SHOWERS CONTINUING WITH CONVECTIVE TEMPS NEAR 50 ONCE AGAIN. .EXTENDED... MODELS ADVERTISING RATHER PROGRESSIVE UPPER AIR PATTERN WITH EMBEDDED PIECES OF ENERGY/ASSOCIATED TROUGH INTERACTION THURSDAY AND THEN AGAIN ON SUNDAY. IT APPEARS LATTER FEATURE WILL HAVE MORE OF A BITE TO IT AS GULF OPENS IT GATES IN FULL FORCE IN RESPONSE TO STRONG PRESSURE FALLS AND CYCLOGENESIS OVER THE ROCKIES. NO BIG TEMPERATURE FLUCTUATIONS EXPECTED THROUGH THE PERIOD WITH READINGS AVERAGING BELOW CLIMO EARLY FOLLOWED BY MODERATION NEXT WEEKEND. .FGF...NONE. KELLENBENZ/BERG
MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ008-016-027-029-030- 038-039-049-052-053-062250- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND 1151 AM CDT SUN MAY 6 2001 ...A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE STORMS POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA...INTO NORTHWEST MINNESOTA BY THIS EVENING... SYNOPSIS...LOW PRESSURE WILL LIFT INTO THE RED RIVER VALLEY THIS AFTERNOON. AMPLE LOW LEVEL MOISTURE NEAR THE SURFACE AND ALOFT... COUPLED WITH STRONG SURFACE FORCING WILL LEAD TO NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS. SOME THUNDERSTORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE BY EARLY AFTERNOON IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA. THE SEVERE THREAT WILL SPREAD INTO NORTHWEST MINNESOTA BY THIS EVENING. AREA OF CONCERN...SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA EARLY THIS AFTERNOON... SPREADING NORTH THROUGH THE RED RIVER VALLEY...INTO NORTHWEST MINNESOTA BY THIS EVENING. TIME...1PM THROUGH 9PM. TYPE OF HAZARD...DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND A FEW TORNADOES ARE THE BIGGEST THREAT...ALONG WITH LARGE HAIL. KELLENBENZ NNNN
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
2 to 2.50 inches of rain fell quickly, flooding Loyal Avenue in Hillsboro. Fire trucks were called out to pump out the excess water. Nearby, two culverts and portions of a road were washed out, leaving one farm family without access to their farm.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Dakota in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in North Dakota, May 2001
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: 5250482.