Name: Damaging Wind in North Dakota, May 29, 2002
Start: 2002-05-29T16:10
End: 2002-05-29T16:10
Location: North Dakota

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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: $300
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 Grand Forks, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 29, 1:50 PM CST, 2 hours 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 29, 1:50 PM CST, 2 hours 20 minutes before

FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
250 PM CDT WED MAY 29 2002

FORECAST CHALLENGE CONCERNS EARLY CONVECTIVE THREAT AND TEMPERATURES.

MODELS IN PRETTY GOOD AGREEMENT THROUGH PERIOD AND WILL USE MIX FOR
PARTICULARS IN GRIDDS.

FIRST CONCERN IS CONVECTIVE THREAT. TSRA BREAKING OUT ALONG
VARIOUS BOUNDARIES ACROSS FORECAST AREA FROM HAND MESO-ANALYSIS.
PRIMARY THREAT AT THIS TIME LOOKS TO BE HAIL AND WIND WITH MID LEVEL
BASES. FARTHER UPSTREAM WELL DEFINED MID LEVEL CIRCULATION FROM BOTH
VISIBLE AND WATER VAPOR TRACKING ALONG INTERNATIONAL BORDER AREA.
TSRA ALSO BREAKING OUT ALONG ROTATING SPOKES AND UNDER VORTICITY
MAXIMA. WILL ALSO NEED TO MONITOR THIS AREA AS FEATURE SHIFTS EAST WITH
INCREASING TORNADIC THREAT THIS AREA.

FOLLOWING PASSAGE OF WAVE THIS EVENING REGION TO REMAIN IN BROAD NW
FLOW AROUND UPPER RIDGE OVER SW QUARTER OF CONUS. WITH UPPER JET
AXIS NORTH OF INTERNATIONAL BORDER AND DRY COLUMN LOOKS LIKE
RAINFREE CONDITIONS WITH TEMPERATURES MAIN CONCERN THE REMAINDER OF
THE WORK WEEK. 850MB THERMAL RIDGE SHIFTS ACROSS THE REGION ON
THURSDAY AND WITH PLENTY OF SOLAR EXPECT ANOTHER ABOVE NORMAL
TEMPERATURE DAY. 850MB TEMPS BEGIN A SLOW DROP THURSDAY NIGHT INTO
FRIDAY. WILL LEAN TOWARDS COOLER FWC/FAN TEMPERATURES THIS PERIOD.

NEXT WAVE MOVES ONSHORE SW US FRIDAY NIGHT BUT NOT LIKELY TO AFFECT
FORECAST AREA UNTIL EARLY IN EXTENDED PERIOD.

.EXTENDED...
ECWMF AND EXTENDED AVN ADVERTISING LOW PRESSURE IN CENTRAL PLAINS
SUN WITH SFC BOUNDARY EXTENDING INTO SOUTHERN FA. 50H WAVES ROTATING
THROUGH WILL HELP GENERATE SHOWERS AND WILL LEAVE IN SUN AND MON.
HIGH PRESSURE MOVES IN FOR MIDDLE OF WEEK WITH ANOTHER BOUNDARY
EXPECTED TOWARDS END OF EXTENDED. TEMPS LIKELY TO BE NORMAL
THROUGHOUT PERIOD AND GENERALLY FOLLOWED FMR NUMBERS.
.FGF...NONE.

VOELKER

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 29, 2:33 PM CST, 1 hour 37 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS, ND
333 PM CDT WED MAY 29 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0237 PM    1 S LANCASTER             MN   TORNADO
05/29/02   KITTSON                        TORNADO OBSERVED ALONG
                                          LEADING EDGE OF
                                          THUNDERSTORMS. TORNADO
                                          CONTINUED TO TRAVEL
                                          NORTHEAST OVER OPEN COUNTRY
                                          FOR 15 MINUTES IN A
                                          NON-CONTINUOUS PATH. NO
                                          DAMAGE WAS REPORTED.

DTR

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 44 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:10 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Grand Forks

When: May 29, 4:10 PM CST
Where: Grand Forks County, 5 mi E of Arvilla
Property damage: $300
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 47.917, -97.400

Large branches were blown down.

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in North Dakota in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in North Dakota, May 2002

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: 5294196.