In the early morning hours of Sunday, August 3rd, Severe Thunderstorm Watch 800 was issued for much of west and central North Dakota. this in anticipation of ongoing thunderstorms over eastern Montana and northwest South Dakota expanding east-northeast into North Dakota.
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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 BIS wrote it up.
In the early morning hours of Sunday, August 3rd, Severe Thunderstorm Watch 800 was issued for much of west and central North Dakota. this in anticipation of ongoing thunderstorms over eastern Montana and northwest South Dakota expanding east-northeast into North Dakota. The storms were forecast to strengthen as an upper level short wave impulse moved into the northern plains. Several severe thunderstorm warnings were issued. Three reports of severe thunderstorm wind gusts were received in the early morning hours.
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 Bismarck, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 3, 1:42 AM CST, 1 hour 3 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND 242 AM CDT SUN AUG 3 2008 .SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT... SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THIS MORNING WILL WANE BY EARLY AFTERNOON AS A SHORTWAVE NOW IN EASTERN MONTANA SHIFTS FURTHER NORTHEAST TAKING THE STRONGEST LIFT/UPWARD INTO EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA. THIS WAS DENOTED WELL WITH THE CURRENT PRECIPITATION AREA AND CORRESPONDING H85-H30 OMEGA FIELD AS ADVERTISED BY THE NAM80. AN ISOLATED SHOWER AND/OR THUNDERSTORM WILL CONTINUE INTO THE AFTERNOON/EVENING HOURS. THE NEXT SHORTWAVE WITH A DECENT OMEGA FIELD ARRIVES TONIGHT...BETWEEN 00-06Z IN THE WEST AND 06Z-12Z CENTRAL. THIS WILL BRING ANOTHER ROUND OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO THE FORECAST AREA. APPEARS THIS WILL ALSO BE THE LAST IN A LONG SERIES OF DISTURBANCES WHICH HAVE BEEN INITIATING CONVECTION NEARLY EVERY OTHER DAY. LATE MONDAY INTO TUESDAY WILL SERVE AS THE TRANSITIONAL PERIOD WHERE OUR UPPER LEVEL FLOW WILL SWITCH FROM SOUTHWEST TO WEST AND FINALLY NORTHWEST. IT IS THE NORTHWEST FLOW WHICH LOOKS TO BRING A QUIETER/DRIER WEATHER PATTERN. .LONG TERM...WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY... GENERALLY A DRY PERIOD WITH H85 TEMPS AND 1000-500MB THICKNESSES WOBBLING JUST A LITTLE FROM DAY TO DAY. OVERALL...EXPECT AFTERNOON HIGHS TO REMAIN IN THE UPPER 70S OVER OUR NORTHEAST FORECAST AREA TO MID 80S CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST. AN UPPER RIDGE WILL RESIDE JUST WEST OF THE STATE WITH AN ENSUING NORTHWEST UPPER FLOW OVER THE FORECAST AREA. THERE WILL BE LIKELY BE SOME DISTURBANCES EMBEDDED WITHIN THE NORTHWEST FLOW...WITH OUR SOUTHEAST ZONES POSSIBLY SEEING SOME RISK OF CONVECTION FRIDAY INTO FRIDAY NIGHT WHICH COULD SPREAD INTO THE SOUTH CENTRAL AS WELL. OTHER THAN THAT...OVERALL FORCING LOOKS WEAK AND WILL MAINTAIN PREVIOUS GRIDS WITH MOSTLY DRY WORDING. && .AVIATION... SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ASSOCIATED WITH AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE IN EASTERN MONTANA WILL WANE BY MID/LATE MORNING. EXPECT VFR CONDITIONS OUTSIDE OF ANY THUNDERSTORMS. GUSTY WINDS...HEAVY RAIN...AND A BRIEF OCCURRENCE OF MVFR CEILINGS/VISIBILITY ARE POSSIBLE WITH THE SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS. && .BIS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && KS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND 1247 AM CDT SUN AUG 3 2008 NDZ003>005-010>013-017>023-025-031>037-040>048-050-051-040600- RENVILLE-BOTTINEAU-ROLETTE-MOUNTRAIL-WARD-MCHENRY-PIERCE-MCKENZIE- DUNN-MERCER-OLIVER-MCLEAN-SHERIDAN-WELLS-FOSTER-GOLDEN VALLEY- BILLINGS-STARK-MORTON-BURLEIGH-KIDDER-STUTSMAN-SLOPE-HETTINGER- GRANT-BOWMAN-ADAMS-SIOUX-EMMONS-LOGAN-LA MOURE-MCINTOSH-DICKEY- 1247 AM CDT SUN AUG 3 2008 /1147 PM MDT SAT AUG 2 2008/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA...NORTHWEST NORTH DAKOTA...SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA...SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA AND SOUTHWEST NORTH DAKOTA. .DAY ONE...REST OF TONIGHT ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 800 IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 AM CDT /7 AM MDT/ THIS MORNING... A POTENT UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVING NORTHEAST FROM CENTRAL MONTANA WILL BRING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO CENTRAL AND WESTERN NORTH DAKOTA EARLY THIS MORNING. SOME THUNDERSTORMS MAY BE SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBLE AS WELL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE SUNDAY INTO MONDAY AS PERIODIC UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES MOVE ACROSS THE REGION. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BISMARCK. KS
The Bismarck radar (KBIS), 111 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 08:46 UTC.
3 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The severe thunderstorm wind gusts snapped three inch in diameter tree limbs.
This was from a North Dakota Agriculture Weather Network site measurement.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Dakota in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in North Dakota, August 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: 129614, 129617, 129623.