Hail in Minnesota, August 22, 2008

Name: Hail in Minnesota, August 22, 2008
Start: 2008-08-22T03:05
End: 2008-08-22T03:05
Location: Minnesota

August 22, 2008 · NWS FGF · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Elevated thunderstorms formed out ahead of a surface cold front over central 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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: $100,000
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 happened

The episode as NWS FGF wrote it up.

Elevated thunderstorms formed out ahead of a surface cold front over central North Dakota.

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 Aug 22, 2:06 AM CST, 59 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 22, 2:06 AM CST, 59 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND
306 AM CDT FRI AUG 22 2008

.SHORT TERM...
FOCUS IS EARLY THIS MORNING STORMS. AS EXPECTED 120 KT UPPER JET
MOVING JUST SOUTH OF UPPER LOW IN SRN SASK AND NOSE OF THIS JET
AND LEFT FRONT QUAD WILL GIVE STRONG LIFT TO NE ND THRU ABOUT 14Z
BEFORE IT LIFTS INTO CANADA. CONVECTION RE-FIRING NR BIS WILL
IMPACT NE ND EARLY THIS MORNING...PSBL SVR NORTH AND WEST OF
COOPERSTOWN TO GFK TO ROX. OTHERWISE SOUTH OF THIS AREA VERY WARM
ENVIRONMENT AND LACK OF LIFT WILL KEEP ANY TSTM CHC VERY LOW. WILL
MENTION 20 POPS IN SE ND THRU 15Z AND THEN IN WCNTRL MN MID TO
LATE MORNING AS SATELLITE SHOWING SOME MID CLOUD DEVELOPMENT IN
LOW LEVEL JET THIS MORNING JMS-ABR AREAS. MAIN SFC LOW NR BIS WILL
MOVE NORTHEAST INTO CANADA THIS MORNING WITH FRONT MOVING INTO THE
VALLEY BY NOON AND THEN INTO MN THIS AFTN. DRY SLOT WILL MOVE IN
BEHIND THE FRONT INTO MUCH OF ERN ND MIDDAY HOURS AND THEN INTO MN
AS THE AFTN PROGRESSES. LOOKS LIKE ANY DEVELOPMENT ALONG THE FRONT
ITSELF WILL WAIT TIL 20Z OR SO IN THE FAR ERN CWA BUT THIS WILL
DEPEND ON HEATING. ATTM MUCH OF MN IN LOW CLOUDS AS LOW LEVEL
MOISTURE HAS SPREAD NORTH.

WINDS ON THE BACKSIDE OF THIS SYSTEM WILL BE QUITE STRONG WITH
MODEL SOUNDINGS FROM THE NAM SHOWING HIGHEST WINDS WEST OF THE
VALLEY IN THE DVL-JMS REGION. ISSUED WIND ADV FOR NW CWA (VALLEY
CITY TO LANGDON WEST) 17Z-00Z PERIOD AS GOOD LINKAGE TO 800 MB
WHERE WINSD WILL BE NR 40KTS AND 925 MB WINDS 25-30 KTS. PRETTY
SIMILAR TO PAST TWO DAYS WIND EVENTS...MARGINAL BUT LOOKS JUST A
BIT OVER CRITERIA ESP DUE TO HIGHER TERRAIN IN ADV AREA.

WRAPAROND CLOUDS WILL SPREAD SOUTHEAST INTO NE ND THIS EVE AND
THEN INTO NW MN OVERNIGHT AND EXIT AREA SATURDAY. OUTSIDE OF
CLOUDS IN PARTS OF NE ND/NW MN SATURDAY REST OF AREA TO BE VERY
SUNNY AND BREEZY AND COOLER. HIGH PRESSURE TO MOVE OVER AREA
SUNDAY WITH LIGHTER WINDS.

.LONG TERM...
NO CHANGES OTHER THAN TO INCREASE CLOUD COVER TUESDAY IN GRIDDS
DUE TO CHC OF TSTMS TUES AFTN. NEXT SYSTEM WOULD APPEAR TO BE
MAINLY TUES NIGHT-WED WHICH IS WHAT WE HAVE.

&&

.AVIATION...
MVFR CIGS AT MOST TAF SITES IN MOIST SOUTHERLY FLOW THRU
15Z...THEN SOME BREAKUP OF CLOUDS AFTER THAT. LIKELY CLEARING OF
CLDS AT FAR-DVL-GFK BY 17Z AS WINDS TURN WEST AND GET GUSTY.
WESTJERLY WIND GUSTS TO 30 KTS PSBL AT DVL-GFK-TVF-FAR THIS
AFTN...NR 35 OR 40 KTS AT DVL.

&&

.FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
ND...WIND ADVISORY FROM NOON TODAY TO 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR
     NDZ006-007-014-015-024-026-028-038-054.

MN...NONE.
&&

RIDDLE

Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 21, 11:54 AM CST, 15 hours 11 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND
1254 PM CDT THU AUG 21 2008

MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ008-016-026>030-038-039-
049-052>054-221800-
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-PEMBINA-
EASTERN WALSH COUNTY-NELSON-GRAND FORKS-GRIGGS-STEELE-TRAILL-
BARNES-CASS-RANSOM-SARGENT-RICHLAND-WESTERN WALSH COUNTY-
1254 PM CDT THU AUG 21 2008

...A WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT THROUGH 9 PM THURSDAY...

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NORTH
DAKOTA...WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

STRONG SOUTHERLY WINDS WILL GUST OVER 4O MPH AT TIMES THIS
AFTERNOON INTO THIS EVENING. WINDS WILL SLOWLY SUBSIDE
TONIGHT...BUT STILL REMAIN BREEZY. THERE IS ALSO A CHANCE FOR
THUNDERSTORMS LATE TONIGHT AHEAD OF A STRONG COLD FRONT.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY

STRONG WINDS WILL CONTINUE FRIDAY INTO FRIDAY NIGHT...WITH
WESTERLY WINDS DEVELOPING AND GUSTING OVER 30 MPH. THERE IS ALSO
THE THREAT FOR THUNDERSTORMS INTO FRIDAY AFTERNOON. A COLD FRONT
WILL USHER IN MUCH COLDER AIR BY SATURDAY...WITH TEMPERATURES
FALLING WELL BELOW NORMAL.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

NDZ006-007-014-015-024-221800-
TOWNER-CAVALIER-BENSON-RAMSEY-EDDY-
1254 PM CDT THU AUG 21 2008

...THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATE THIS
AFTERNOON AND OVERNIGHT...

...A WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT THROUGH 9 PM THURSDAY...

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NORTH
DAKOTA...WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS...CONTAINING
LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS...THIS AFTERNOON AND OVERNIGHT FROM
6 PM UNTIL 4 AM. IN ADDITION...STRONG SOUTHERLY WINDS WILL GUST OVER 4O MPH
AT TIMES THIS AFTERNOON INTO THIS EVENING. WINDS WILL SLOWLY
SUBSIDE TONIGHT...BUT STILL REMAIN BREEZY.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY

STRONG WINDS WILL CONTINUE FRIDAY INTO FRIDAY NIGHT...WITH
WESTERLY WINDS DEVELOPING AND GUSTING OVER 30 MPH. THERE IS ALSO
THE THREAT FOR THUNDERSTORMS INTO FRIDAY AFTERNOON. A COLD FRONT
WILL USHER IN MUCH COLDER AIR BY SATURDAY...WITH TEMPERATURES
FALLING WELL BELOW NORMAL.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED.

DK

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 63 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 09:05 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Polk

When: August 22, 3:05 AM CST
Where: Polk County, 2.32 mi NW of Burwell
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Crop damage: $100,000
Reported by: Fire Department/Rescue
Coordinates: 47.770, -96.560

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Minnesota in 2008 Every state in 2008 This day in weather history Warnings in Minnesota, August 2008

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: 127623.