North Dakota, 2002

Flash Flood and Hail in North Dakota, September 18, 2002

September 18, 2002 · NWS FGF · 14 events in 5 counties and zones

12 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
14

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 Sep 18, 9:15 AM CST, 4 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 18, 9:15 AM CST, 4 hours 30 minutes before
FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
1015 AM CDT WED SEP 18 2002

FCST CHALLENGE THIS AFTN/EVE IS SVR CHANCES AND TEMPS.

UPPER AIR/SFC SHOWS NEGATIVELY TILTED SYSTEM OVER NRN PLAINS.  SFC
LOW JUST SOUTH OF BISMARCK...WITH 85H LOW JUST WEST OF BISMARCK AND
50H LOW OVER SE MT.  TSRA/RAIN ASSOC JUST NW OF SFC LOW FROM DVL TO
DIK WITH ISOLD SVR CELLS WITH THIS BAND.  VILS OF 50 SEEMS TO BE
WORRISOME.  1 INCH HAIL WAS REPORTED WITH MID 50S VIL WEST OF
BISMARCK EARLIER THIS MORNING.  DEF ZONE PCPN WITH 50H SYSTEM OVER
ERN MT.

TREND OF THIS SYSTEM OVER PAST DAY IS IT TO TRACK FARTHER
WEST....AND CURRENT SFC/UPR AIR PATTERN SUGGEST THIS WILL BE THE
CASE WITH SYSTEM ALMOST BECOMING STACKED BY 00Z.  FEEL ETA WILL BE
TOO FAR SOUTH AND EAST WITH 06Z AVN TRACK OF THE LOW FROM WEST OF
JAMESTOWN TO NR GRAND FORKS LOOKING LIKE A MORE PROBABLE EVENT.

ELEVATED SVR CELLS PSBL THIS AFTN OVER DVL ZONE JUST ALONG WARM
FRONT...WITH SFC BASED CONVECTION PSBL OVER ECNTRL AND SE ND THIS
AFTN AS LOW DRIFTS NORTHEAST.  WILL WATCH TEMPS...AS VSBL SATELLITE
PIX SHOWS CLEAR SLOT WORKING INTO SE ND AND IF TEMPS WARM UP TO NR
80F THEN STUFF SHOULD FIRE.  SOUNDINGS SHOWS IF TEMPS HIT 80F THEN
LI/PWATS/LOW WBZ ALL WOULD SUPPORT HAILERS.

SYSTEM WILL MOVE EAST TONIGHT WITH WIDESPREAD RAINS JUST NORTH AND
WEST OF SFC LOW THRU DVL ZONE INTO SRN MANITOBA WITH 1+ INCH RAINS
LIKELY.

WILL LOOK OVER ZONES AND MAKE A FEW WORDING CHANGES.  WILL INTRODUCE
SVR WORDING TO SOME ERN ND ZONES THIS AFTN AND TWEEK TEMPS UP SOME
IN A FEW ZONES.

.FGF...NONE

RIDDLE

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Sep 18, 10:00 AM CST, 3 hours 45 minutes before
MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024-
026>030-038-039-049-052>054-181900-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...UDPATED
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
1100 AM CDT WED SEP 18 2002

...SCATTERED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED ACROSS EASTERN NORTH
DAKOTA THIS AFTERNOON AND FAR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST AND
WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA THIS EVENING...

SYNOPSIS...
AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL MOVE FROM SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA TO
NORTHWEST MINNESOTA BY MIDNIGHT.  WARM AND MOIST UNSTABLE AIR WILL
OVERSPREAD THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.  THUNDERSTORMS WILL
CONTINUE OVER THE DEVILS LAKE REGION THIS AFTERNOON WITH A FEW OF
THESE BECOMING SEVERE.  OTHER THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP LATER THIS
AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING OVER THE RED RIVER VALLEY EAST INTO
NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA AND A FEW OF THESE MAY BE
SEVERE.

AREA OF CONCERN...ALL OF EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST AND WEST
CENTRAL MINNESOTA.

TIME...NOON PM TO 10 PM.

TYPE OF HAZARD...MAINLY LARGE HAIL WITH DAMAGING WINDS ALSO POSSIBLE.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND OTHER LOCAL MEDIA FOR FURTHER
DETAILS OR UPDATES.

RIDDLE
NNNN

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 80 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:42 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

12 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Cass

When
September 18, 1:45 PM CST
Where
Cass County, 1 mi NW of Embden
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
46.817, -97.450

Hail, Cass

When
September 18, 2:05 PM CST
Where
Cass County, 3 mi E of Buffalo
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
46.917, -97.467

Hail, Cass

When
September 18, 2:20 PM CST to 2:37 PM CST
Where
Cass County, Page
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
47.150, -97.583

Hail, Steele

When
September 18, 2:45 PM CST
Where
Steele County, Colgate
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
47.250, -97.683

Hail, Cass

When
September 18, 2:50 PM CST
Where
Cass County, 1 mi W of Lynchburg
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
46.783, -97.267

Hail, Ransom

When
September 18, 2:51 PM CST
Where
Ransom County, 8 mi SE of Sheldon
Measured
1.75 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
46.500, -97.367

Hail, Cass

When
September 18, 3:28 PM CST
Where
Cass County, 2 mi E of Amenia
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
46.983, -97.117

Thunderstorm Wind, Pembina

When
September 18, 3:35 PM CST
Where
Pembina County, Neche
Measured
61 kt (70 mph)
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
48.983, -97.533

Hail, Richland

When
September 18, 3:35 PM CST
Where
Richland County, 22 mi W of Lithia
Measured
0.88 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
46.617, -97.267

Hail, Cass

When
September 18, 4:00 PM CST
Where
Cass County, 2 mi SW of Mapleton
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
46.867, -97.083

Hail, Cass

When
September 18, 4:25 PM CST
Where
Cass County, 1 mi NW of Fargo
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
46.883, -96.800

Flash Flood, Cass

When
September 18, 4:32 PM CST to 6:32 PM CST
Where
Cass County, Fargo
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
46.933, -97.248 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Street flooding was reported.

Hail, Cass

When
September 18, 4:50 PM CST
Where
Cass County, Fargo
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
46.867, -96.783

Hail, Richland

When
September 18, 4:52 PM CST
Where
Richland County, 2 mi NE of Christine
Measured
1 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
46.600, -96.783

What these are

Hail
Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
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.
Flash Flood
Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in North Dakota in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in North Dakota, September 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: 5318033, 5318034, 5318035, 5318036, 5318037, 5318038, 5318039, 5318040, 5318041, 5318042, 5318043, 5318044, 5318045, 5318046.