A high wind event occurred across portions of eastern North Dakota and northwest Minnesota in the early morning hours of the 10th. Several things came together to cause this event.
Every event with a place to put it; 6 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 episode as NWS FGF wrote it up.
A high wind event occurred across portions of eastern North Dakota and northwest Minnesota in the early morning hours of the 10th. Several things came together to cause this event. First, a strengthening upper level jet moved into the area along with sinking motion in the low to mid layers of the atmosphere. A morning upper air sounding from Aberdeen, South Dakota, showed nearly unidirectional winds from the surface to the jet level. Also at the surface, an area of low pressure located near Cooperstown (ND) in the early morning hours strengthened as it moved toward Baudette (MN) around sunrise. Some decaying weak showers could also have helped mix some of the stronger winds down to the surface.
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 Jul 9, 8:36 PM CST, 4 hours 13 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND 936 PM CDT MON JUL 9 2007 .UPDATE... STRONG AXIS OF DEEP MOISTURE CONVERGENCE ALONG FRONTAL BOUNDARY OVER CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE EASTWARD THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT. MAIN THREAT FOR SEVERE STORMS IS STRONG WINDS...HOWEVER PENNY SIZED HAIL REPORTED AROUND 9 PM IN BENSON COUNTY...SO MARGINAL HAIL WILL CONTINUE TO BE A THREAT THROUGHOUT THE EVENING. UPDATED GRIDS/ZONES TO INCREASE POPS ACROSS WESTERN PORTION OF CWA... AND ADJUST 06Z TO 12Z POPS TO ADJUST FOR CURRENT MOVEMENT/ORIENTATION OF FRONTAL BOUNDARY. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 230 PM CDT MON JUL 9 2007/ LONG TERM (FRI-MON)...ALL MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH HIGH AMPLITUDE W RIDGE/E TROUGH PATTERN ACROSS CONUS/CANADA. DETAILS STILL A BIT UNCERTAIN WITH INDIVIDUAL WAVES IN NW FLOW ALOFT. SFC HIGH PRESSURE SHOULD KEEP THE WX MOSTLY DRY FRI-SUN. HOWEVER...LOOKING AT THE GFS/CANADIAN/ECMWF...A SIGNAL EXISTS FOR PRECIP CHANCES FRI NIGHT ACROSS NW MN. MODELS THEN SHOW A STRONGER WAVE TO BRIEFLY LOWER HEIGHTS ACROSS W CANADA AND AFFECT THE FA LATE SUN INTO MON (ADDED POPS FOR THIS TIME FRAME). TEMPERATURES NEAR TO SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL. AVIATION...MVFR CEILINGS/VSBY POSSIBLE TONIGHT WITH THUNDERSTORMS. THIS ACTIVITY LOOKS TO AFFECT GFK/FAR THIS EVENING AND MOVE INTO BJI AROUND MIDNIGHT. GUSTY WINDS POSSIBLE NEAR STRONGER STORMS. WINDS WILL SHIFT TO THE NW AFTER THE STORMS AND BECOME GUSTY TUE MORNING. && .FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ND...SEVERE WEATHER WATCH 502 IN EFFECT FOR PARTS OF CENTRAL AND EAST CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA UNTIL 0600Z. MN...NONE. && SPEICHER
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND 548 AM CDT MON JUL 9 2007 MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024- 026>030-038-039-049-052>054-101100- WEST POLK-NORMAN-CLAY-KITTSON-ROSEAU-LAKE OF THE WOODS- WEST MARSHALL-EAST MARSHALL-NORTH BELTRAMI-PENNINGTON-RED LAKE- EAST POLK-NORTH CLEARWATER-SOUTH BELTRAMI-MAHNOMEN- SOUTH CLEARWATER-HUBBARD-WEST BECKER-EAST BECKER-WILKIN- WEST OTTER TAIL-EAST OTTER TAIL-WADENA-GRANT-TOWNER-CAVALIER- PEMBINA-BENSON-RAMSEY-EASTERN WALSH COUNTY-EDDY-NELSON- GRAND FORKS-GRIGGS-STEELE-TRAILL-BARNES-CASS-RANSOM-SARGENT- RICHLAND-WESTERN WALSH COUNTY- 548 AM CDT MON JUL 9 2007 THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT IN NORTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA...WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL CAUSE THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP AND MOVE THROUGH THE AREA TONIGHT. THERE IS A CHANCE FOR SEVERE STORMS CONTAINING LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WIND AND HEAVY RAIN. THE BEST CHANCE FOR SEVERE WEATHER IS IN NORTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA ALONG AND NORTH OF HIGHWAY 2 FROM 7 PM UNTIL 1 AM. STRONG WESTERLY WINDS WILL ALSO INCREASE LATE TONIGHT...AND GUST UP TO 35 MPH BY MORNING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY STRONG NORTHWEST WINDS WILL BLOW BEHIND THE COLD FRONT ON TUESDAY...AND GUST UP TO 45 MPH. THERE WILL BE A CHANCE FOR LINGERING THUNDERSTORMS ON TUESDAY...MAINLY DURING THE MORNING. MUCH COLDER WEATHER WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED TONIGHT. DK
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
947 PM CDT MON JUL 09 2007
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0855 PM HAIL 5 S PLEASANT LAKE 48.29N 99.80W
07/09/2007 E0.75 INCH BENSON ND PUBLIC
&&
GGUSTThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
6 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The wind gust was measured by a RAWS mesonet site in the Sheyenne National Grasslands (about 5 NNW of McLeod).
The wind gust was measured by an AWOS sensor at the Devils Lake airport. Trees were also blown down in the city of Devils Lake. One large tree fell down and blocked a city street.
The wind gust was measured by a NDAWN mesonet sensor located 10 miles north of McHenry.
The wind gust was measured by the ASOS at Hector International Airport in Fargo. Many trees and tree branches were blown down in the Fargo/Moorhead area, causing power outages for about 6000 customers. The town of Arthur, northwest of Fargo, also reported trees and large branches down.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Dakota in 2007Every state in 2007This day in weather historyWarnings in North Dakota, July 2007
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: 43823, 43822, 43830, 43831, 43824, 43829.