Late in the afternoon of the 30th, an area of surface low pressure was located along the North Dakota and South Dakota border south of Cayuga, ND. From this low, a warm front extended to the north-northeast, toward Fargo (ND) and then Fosston (MN).
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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.
Late in the afternoon of the 30th, an area of surface low pressure was located along the North Dakota and South Dakota border south of Cayuga, ND. From this low, a warm front extended to the north-northeast, toward Fargo (ND) and then Fosston (MN). A cold front extended southeast from the low, down into southwest Minnesota. By early evening, the low had shifted northwest, and was located just southeast of Jamestown. Both the warm and cold fronts had also shifted to the north. A low in the mid levels of the atmosphere (500 mb) was also located just to the southwest of the surface low (along the ND/SD border southwest of Bismarck). This provided a ideal setup for a cold core tornado event.
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, 1:34 PM CST, 2 hours 56 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND 234 PM CDT WED MAY 30 2007 .SHORT TERM... MAIN CONCERN FOR LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING IS CONVECTIVE POTENTIAL. SURFACE ANALYSIS INDICATES WARM FRONT STRETCHING FROM A LOW OVER ABERDEEN NORTHEASTWARD TO INTERNATIONAL FALLS. OUR UPPER LEVEL CLOSED LOW IS HOVERING OVER CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA. THE PREFERRED GFS IS INDICATING 500-1000 J/KG OF MIXED LAYER CAPE LURKING ROUGHLY ALONG THE WARM FRONTAL BOUNDARY. SPC IS TARGETING THIS AREA FOR POTENTIAL WATCH LATER. FOR NOW FCST INCLUDES CHANCE TSTM POPS THROUGH SUNSET. THURS AND FRI - DRY SLOT BETWEEN CLOSED LOW TO WEST (WITH A RETROGRADING SURFACE LOW) AND SURFACE BOUNDARY WELL EAST SEEMS LIKELY ON THURSDAY...ALLOWING TEMPS TO RISE MORE MARKEDLY ACROSS MOST OF THE AREA. BY FRIDAY IT LOOKS LIKE THE WHOLE COMPLEX WILL FINALLY TRACK TO THE EAST...WITH ANOTHER ROUND OF MAINLY RAIN SHOWERS AS LI/CAPE PARAMETERS REMAIN LOW. SAT- PROGRESS OF UPPER LOW THROUGH SOUTHERN VALLEY INTO MINNESOTA MAY PROVIDE COLD POOL FOR SOME TSTMS...BUT ITS TIMING MAY NOT BE IN PHASE TO COINCIDE WITH BEST SURFACE HEATING DURING THE DAY. && .LONG TERM (SUN-WED)...MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT DEPICTING UPPER LEVEL NORTHWEST FLOW TO PREVAIL THROUGH THE PERIOD PROVIDING COOLER TEMPS AND MORE SUBDUED WEATHER PATTERN. NO MAJOR CHANGES TO THE FORECAST...CHANGED THUNDER TO SHOWERS FOR THE MONDAY SYSTEM AS LITTLE TO NO INSTABILITY IS ANTICIPATED. && .AVIATION...CIGS AND VISB THE CHALLENGE AS SATURATED ATMOSPHERE REMAINS IN PLACE. IFR AND MVFR CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH TONIGHT INTO TOMORROW. CIGS MAY IMPROVE ACROSS THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON AND THEN QUICKLY LOWER AS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOP. EXPECT DRY SLOT OF UPPER LEVEL LOW TO SLIDE THROUGH AND GIVE SOME VFR TO MVFR CONDITIONS TOMORROW. && .FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ND...NONE. MN...NONE. && WJB/JK
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND 645 AM CDT WED MAY 30 2007 MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024- 026>030-038-039-049-052>054-311145- 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- 645 AM CDT WED MAY 30 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA...WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT HEAVY RAINS IN ASSOCIATION WITH A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IN NORTHERN SOUTH DAKOTA CAN BE EXPECTED IN WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA THROUGH SOUTHEASTERN NORTH DAKOTA TODAY AND INTO THIS EVENING. NEW RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF OVER ONE INCH CAN BE EXPECTED WITHIN THIS AREA. LOCALIZED FLOODING WILL BE A CONCERN ESPECIALLY IN AREAS WHERE STRONGER STORMS PERSIST FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME. A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS CAN BE EXPECTED ALONG AND EAST OF A LINE FROM PARK RAPIDS THROUGH BAUDETTE THIS AFTERNOON. THE PRIMARY THREAT WITH THESE STORMS WOULD BE HEAVY RAIN. RAIN SHOWERS CAN BE EXPECTED ELSEWHERE ACROSS EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA TODAY AND TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY RAIN SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA THROUGH SATURDAY WITH THE BEST CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS FRIDAY AND INTO SATURDAY. ANOTHER CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS WILL COME SUNDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ARE ASKED TO RELAY RAINFALL AMOUNTS AND FLOODING REPORTS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS. AYD/DK
The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 56 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:31 UTC.
2 tornado, 2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Four 2400 bushel grain bins were destroyed. A motorhome was damaged and numerous tree branches were broken off in shelterbelts along the path. Peak tornadic winds were estimated at 100 to 105 mph.
Two funnels were reported near Page. One of them touched down just south of Page, then lifted briefly while it went over Page, then touched down repeatedly as it travelled northwest from Page. The tornado lifted about 3 miles south of Colgate. Peak tornadic winds were estimated at 90 to 95 mph. On the west edge of Page, a semi trailer was pushed along the ground, a grain elevator was flipped, and a satellite dish was ripped off a roof.
Strong rear flank downdraft winds moved through the community of Page several minutes after a tornado had brushed the west end of town.
Strong outflow winds broke a few large tree branches at a farm about 1 mile south of Colgate.
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 historyThe tornado archive for North Dakota, 2007Warnings in North Dakota, May 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: 35339, 35342, 35343, 35344.