An area of low pressure over northern Minnesota brought strong north to northwest winds to eastern North Dakota in its wake. A tree blew over on a parked van in Walhalla.
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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 episode as NWS FGF wrote it up.
An area of low pressure over northern Minnesota brought strong north to northwest winds to eastern North Dakota in its wake. A tree blew over on a parked van in Walhalla. The owner was getting into the van to go to work at the time and was knocked down. She suffered minor injuries. Another tree fell on a house, causing minor structural damage.
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 30, 1:45 AM CST, 6 hours 51 minutes earlier.
FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND 245 AM CDT FRI MAY 30 2003 FORECAST CHALLENGE CONCERNS WIND POTENTIAL TODAY AND TEMPERATURES. OVERALL MODELS SIMILAR AND WILL UTILIZE MIX FOR GRIDS UTILIZING ETA FOR DETAILS. IN NEAR TERM BAND OF CONVECTION EXITING EASTERN COUNTIES AND NO SIGN YET OF ANY ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT ALONG BOUNDARY OVER WESTERN MN. WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR TRENDS. MAIN CHALLENGE FOR UPCOMING DAY WILL BE WINDS AND TEMPERATURE TRENDS. DEEPENING SURFACE LOW OVER NE FA TO SHIFT FAIRLY RAPIDLY ACROSS MN INTO WI TODAY. TIGHT GRADIENT...STRONG COLD ADVECTION AND UNIDIRECTIONAL FLOW ALOFT TO NEAR 40KTS SHOULD MIX DOWN RESULTING IN WINDY DAY. WILL ISSUE WIND ADVISORY FOR ENTIRE FA ALTHOUGH FAR NW MAY ESCAPE STRONGEST WINDS. TEMPERATURES REMAIN QUITE MILD HOWEVER COLD FRONT DROPPING THROUGH FAR NORTHERN FA AT THIS TIME TO SWEEP SOUTH WITH STRONGEST COLD ADVECTION BETWEEN NOW AND 18Z. CONVECTIVE TEMPERATURES LOW AND WITH SHALLOW MOIST LAYER DROPPING SOUTH WITH FRONT WILL SEE MVFR SC LAYER DEVELOP. WITH MID LEVEL TROUGH AXIS ROTATING THROUGH AND COLD TEMPERATURES ALOFT WILL MAINTAIN SCT SHRA MAINLY OVER NORTHERN ND AND MN THIS AM ALTHOUGH MODELS A LITTLE TOO QUICK WITH PASSAGE OF THIS FEATURE BASED ON WATER VAPOR LOOP. SOME QUESTION AS TO HOW FAR SOUTH AND WEST SHRA POTENTIAL WILL BE SO FOR NOW WILL CONTINUE TO LEAVE SW ZONE SET OUT OF SHRA. SHALLOW MOIST BAND PUSHES THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON SO SHOULD SEE DECREASING CLOUDS ACROSS MOST OF FA. BASED ON STRENGTH OF COLD ADVECTION ONLY MINOR RECOVERY IS EXECTED WITH AFTERNOON SOLAR. MESO-ETA SURFACE TEMPERATURES HAVING GOOD HANDLE ON TEMP SCHEME AND WILL FOLLOW. SFC HIGH BUILDS IN TONIGHT WITH BONE DRY COLUMN REFLECTED BY QUARTER INCH PRECIPITABLE H2O FROM ETA SOUNDING AT GFK. COLDEST TEMPERATURES OVERNIGHT WILL BE NE ZONES WHERE MINS IN THE 30S LIKELY CONSIDERING 850MB TEMPERATURES AND 1000-500MB THICKNESS AND ABOVE. HIGH REMAINS IN CONTROL THIS WEEKEND WITH MID LEVEL NORTHWEST FLOW AND MODEST THERMAL RECOVERY. ETA STILL WANTS TO DROP WEAK SHORT WAVE THROUGH LATE SUNDAY. MAIN CONVERGENCE TO OUR WEST SO FOR NOW WILL CONTINUE DRY FORECAST. NO CHANGES PLANNED TO EXTENDED. .FGF...WIND ADVISORY ENTIRE FORECAST AREA TODAY. VOELKER
MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024- 026>030-038-039-049-052>054-301445- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS 639 AM CDT FRI MAY 30 2003 ...STRONG WINDS EXPECTED ACROSS PARTS OF THE REGION... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA...WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT STRONG NORTH WINDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS MOST OF THE REGION THIS MORNING CONTINUING THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. AS A RESULT A WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA...NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION, CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/FGF/INDEX.HTML (ALL LOWER CASE) VOELKER
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Dakota in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in North Dakota, May 2003
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: 5353635.