A surface boundary moved into the central Dakotas, with a very moist air mass in place ahead of it. Precipitable water values were about 200 percent of normal.
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 surface boundary moved into the central Dakotas, with a very moist air mass in place ahead of it. Precipitable water values were about 200 percent of normal. As the low level jet increased in the evening, thunderstorms fired along the boundary. The most rain fell in a thin ribbon from just east of Devils Lake up toward Pembina (ND).
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 22, 6:24 PM CST, 3 hours 46 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND
724 PM CDT MON SEP 22 2008
.DISCUSSION...
CHALLENGE OVERNIGHT WILL BE HEAVY RAIN AND SEVERE WEATHER
POTENTIAL. ELEVATED CONVECTION IS DEVELOPING FAIRLY RAPIDLY
CURRENTLY IN CENTRAL ND AHEAD OF A STRONG SHORTWAVE. AMPLE
MOISTURE/INSTABILITY AND FORCING WILL BE IN PLACE THROUGH THE
NIGHT FOR SOME SEVERE WEATHER AND FLOODING POTENTIAL. FOR THIS
REASON I WILL BE BRIEF WITH DISCUSSION.
THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH HIGHLIGHTS THE FLOOD PRONE AREAS WELL THAT
GOT 1-2 INCHES OF RAIN LAST NIGHT...AND WON/T DEVIATE FROM THIS
AT ALL. WE WILL TWEAK POPS UP SOME AND FRESHEN THE FLASH FLOOD
WATCH PRODUCT...WITH LITTLE OTHER CHANGE NEEDED THIS EVENING.
&&
.AVIATION...
CONDITIONS SHOULD FALL INTO THE MVFR/IFR RANGE NEAR STRONGER
THUNDERSTORMS LATER TONIGHT/EARLY TUE MORNING AT ALL SITES.
&&
.FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
ND...FLASH FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 7 AM CDT TUESDAY FOR NDZ006>008-014>016-
024-026-054.
MN...FLASH FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 7 AM CDT TUESDAY FOR MNZ004-007.
&&
DKHAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND 651 AM CDT MON SEP 22 2008 MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024- 026>030-038-039-049-052>054-231200- 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- 651 AM CDT MON SEP 22 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA...WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT AFTER ONE ROUND OF THUNDERSTORMS ENDS THIS MORNING...ANOTHER ROUND WILL DEVELOP OVER EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA...NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA FOR THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT. SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD BE SEVERE. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS ARE THE MAIN SEVERE WEATHER THREATS. THERE IS ALSO THE POSSIBILITY OF LOCALIZED HEAVY RAINFALL WITH THE STORMS TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY THE THREAT FOR THUNDERSTORMS OVER PARTS OF EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA... NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA CONTINUES ON TUESDAY INTO TUESDAY NIGHT. THUNDERSTORMS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE OVER PARTS OF SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA...WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA PERIODICALLY FROM THURSDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NECESSARY LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. NG
The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 164 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 04:09 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Several 6 to 8 inch diameter tree limbs were blown down in a shelterbelt.
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: 128582.