A slow moving surface cold front moved from eastern North Dakota into western Minnesota early on the morning of the 2nd. Once again, a very moist airmass was in place ahead of the front, with dew points in the mid to upper 60s.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 slow moving surface cold front moved from eastern North Dakota into western Minnesota early on the morning of the 2nd. Once again, a very moist airmass was in place ahead of the front, with dew points in the mid to upper 60s. The low level jet, moving straight north into the northern plains, focused precipitation along and behind the surface cold front. This resulted in flash flooding over portions of Richland (ND) and Wilkin (MN) counties.
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 1, 6:02 PM CST, 6 hours 58 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND 702 PM CDT MON SEP 1 2008 .DISCUSSION... THE MAIN CHALLENGE THIS EVENING WILL BE HEAVY RAIN POTENTIAL. A SLOW MOVING COLD FRONT WILL CONTINUE TO PUSH EAST OVERNIGHT. AHEAD OF THE BOUNDARY...A TROPICAL AIRMASS IS IN PLACE WITH PWATS OVER 2 INCHES. THIS HAS CAUSED SOME AREAS TO RECEIVE AN INCH OR MORE IN LESS THAN AN HOUR...SO HAVE HOISTED AN URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY FOR THE VALLEY THROUGH 6Z WITH SOME TRAINING EXPECTED. WE LET THE WIND ADVISORY EXPIRE AT 7 PM FOR THE SOUTHEAST...WITH A FEW GUSTS OVER 30 MPH STILL POSSIBLE IN THE WARM SECTOR. THE REST OF THE GRIDS APPEAR ON TARGET...AND WILL CHECK THEM OVER A BIT MORE LATER. && .AVIATION... CIGS/VSBY TO LOWER INTO MVFR/IFR RANGE WITH PASSAGE OF SHARP COLD FRONT. FRONT IS EXPECTED TO REACH VALLEY MID-LATE EVENING PUSHING THROUGH FORECAST AREA BY 12Z. GUSTY WINDS FROM VALLEY EAST AHEAD OF FRONT WILL DIMINISH SLOWLY AS FRONT APPROACHES. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 310 PM CDT MON SEP 1 2008/ SHORT TERM (TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY)... MAIN FORECAST CHALLENGE INCLUDES PRECIPITATION AND ITS POTENTIAL HAZARDS TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. GFS/NAM IN GOOD AGREEMENT...SO USED MODEL BLEND FOR THIS FORECAST. 19 UTC SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS STRONG SURFACE COLD FRONT FROM NEAR PEMBINA TO JUST EAST OF DEVILS LAKE TO JUST WEST OF JAMESTOWN... MOVING VERY SLOWLY TO THE EAST. AT THIS TIME...GRAND FORKS WAS 86 AND DEVILS LAKE AT 63. MAJORITY OF CONVECTION CONTINUES ALONG AND BEHIND COLD FRONT...ALTHOUGH SCATTERED SHOWERS HAVE DEVELOPED IN THE WARM SECTOR ALONG SURFACE TROUGH IN THE PAST COUPLE OF HOURS. INTERESTINGLY...THERE HAS BEEN VERY LITTLE LIGHTNING THUS FAR. PER SPC RUC MESO ANALYSIS...THERE IS A MODEST TO STRONG INSTABILITY AXIS ALONG THE RED RIVER VALLEY AT 19 UTC WITH SURFACE BASED CAPE VALUES FROM 2000 TO 2500 J/KG AND LITTLE TO NO CIN. 18 UTC SPECIAL ABERDEEN SOUNDING SHOWED 2261 J/KG...NO CIN AND 1.76 INCHES OF PRECIPITABLE WATER. LACK OF A STRONG LIFTING MECHANISM AHEAD OF THE FRONT...WEAK MID-LEVEL LAPSE RATES AND ORIENTATION OF THE FRONT WITH RESPECT TO DEEP LAYER SHEER APPEAR TO BE LIMITING FACTORS THUS FAR AS DISCUSSED IN LATEST SPC MESOSCALE DISCUSSION. AS COLD FRONT MOVES INTO MOST UNSTABLE AIRMASS...SEVERE POTENTIAL MAY BE REALIZED. MAIN THREATS WOULD BE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS...BUT CANNOT RULE OUT AN ISOLATED TORNADO GIVEN 0-6 KM BULK SHEER VALUES ALONG AND BEHIND THE FRONT FROM 50-60 KTS...AND VGP VALUES UP TO 0.3 ACROSS NORTHWEST MINNESOTA AND SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA. STILL FEEL HEAVY RAIN IS A BETTER BET WITH PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES NEARING TWO INCHES AND STORM MOTION PARALLEL TO THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY. HOWEVER...WIDESPREAD FLOODING IS NOT EXPECTED GIVEN DRIER SOIL CONDITIONS...35 TO 40 MPH STORM MOTION AND ONE HOUR FLASH FLOOD GUIDANCE VALUES GENERALLY ABOVE THREE INCHES PER HOUR. NEVERTHELESS...WILL NEED TO MONITOR STORMS CLOSELY THIS EVENING AND OVERNIGHT FOR SEVERE AND FLASH FLOODING POTENTIAL... ESPECIALLY OVER URBAN AND POORLY DRAINED AREAS. MANY AREAS EXPECTED TO RECEIVE ONE TO ONE AND ONE HALF INCHES OF RAIN. STRONG SOUTHERLY WINDS...ESPECIALLY ACROSS PORTIONS OF WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA EXPECTED TO DROP OFF DRAMATICALLY AS SURFACE TROUGH CONTINUES ITS EASTWARD MARCH. THUS...ALLOWING THE WIND ADVISORY TO EXPIRE AT 00 UTC SEEMS PRUDENT. BOTH GFS/NAM SHOW 500 HPA WAVE AND ASSOCIATED SURFACE TROUGH/COLD FRONT EJECTING NORTHEASTWARD AND INTO SOUTHERN CANADA OVERNIGHT INTO TOMORROW MORNING...RESULTING IN A GRADUAL DRYING TREND FROM WEST TO EAST DURING THE DAY TUESDAY. FORECAST HIGH TEMPERATURES TUESDAY EXPECTED TO BE 20 TO 30 DEGREES COOLER THAN TODAY. WEDNESDAY WILL BE DRY AND COOL WITH THE THREAT FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS RETURNING THURSDAY...MAINLY ALONG AND WEST OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY. LONG TERM (THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH NEXT MONDAY)... LONG RANGE MODELS AGREE IN BASIC MID LEVEL FEATURES HOLDING BROAD TROUGH OVER CENTRAL US. LESS CERTAIN IS TIMING OF SHORT WAVE ENERGY PASSING THROUGH TROUGH. FEATURES ARE WEAK AND QUICK MOVING WITH GFS HINTING AT WAVE PASSAGE EVERY 24 HOURS OR SO. AS A RESULT WILL KEEP LOW POPS PRETTY MUCH THROUGH LONG RANGE. OVERALL TEMPERATURES LOOK TO RANGE BELOW AVERAGE. && .FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ND...NONE. MN...NONE. && DK
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND 628 AM CDT MON SEP 1 2008 MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024- 026>030-038-039-049-052>054-021130- 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- 628 AM CDT MON SEP 1 2008 ...WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT ACROSS PORTIONS OF WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA THIS AFTERNOON... ...SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING STRONG WIND GUSTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING... 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 MOVE THROUGH THE REGION TODAY AND TONIGHT. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE LIKELY ALONG AND BEHIND THIS FEATURE. A FEW STORMS MAY PRODUCE STRONG TO SEVERE WIND GUSTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. IN ADDITION...LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL IS POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT THAT COULD CAUSE LOCALIZED FLOODING IN URBAN AND POORLY DRAINED AREAS. VERY WINDY CONDITIONS...WITH SUSTAINED SPEEDS NEAR 30 MPH...WILL OCCUR ACROSS PORTIONS OF WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA THIS AFTERNOON. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY PERIODS OF SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE THURSDAY INTO SATURDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO PROVIDE RAINFALL REPORTS. TG
The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 145 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 07:01 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Three to five inches of rain fell in 4 hours, which resulted in localized flooding of farm fields and farm access roads. Some street flooding also occurred.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Minnesota in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Minnesota, September 2008
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: 128127.