Strong low level flow of 50 to 60 knots ahead of a passing low pressure system combined with light showers caused high wind gusts across eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota the evening of Saturday March 29th. A 58 mph wind gust was reported in Grand Forks where a sign was blown down onto a pickup truck on South Washington Street.
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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.
Strong low level flow of 50 to 60 knots ahead of a passing low pressure system combined with light showers caused high wind gusts across eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota the evening of Saturday March 29th. A 58 mph wind gust was reported in Grand Forks where a sign was blown down onto a pickup truck on South Washington Street. The truck sustained extensive damage.
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 Mar 29, 7:30 PM CST, 1 hour 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND 830 PM CDT SAT MAR 29 2008 .DISCUSSION...FORECAST CONCERNS ARE PCPN CHANCES...WIND HEADLINES AND TEMPERATURES. SFC LOW ALONG N CENTRAL ND/SW MB BORDER AREA AND WILL CONTINUE TO LIFT NNE IN ZONE OF MAXIMUM PRESSURE FALLS FROM MSAS. N-S PREFRONTAL TROUGH OVER CENTRAL DAKOTAS WITH TRUE COLD FRONT THROUGH NW CORNER OF ND. MOST OF RADAR RETURNS FROM KMVX-88D WHICH HAVE PASSED OVER FA SO FAR MAINLY MID LEVEL VIRGA WITH A FEW SPRINKLES. STRONGER BAND OF RETURNS AHEAD OF PREFRONTAL TROUGH WILL BE MOVING THROUGH NORTHERN 2/3DS OF FA MAINLY PRIOR TO MIDNIGHT. SHAVED POPS SOMEWHAT ACROSS SOUTH TO REFLECT TRACK OF PCPN BAND. AS COLUMN CONTINUES TO COOL WILL SEE BETTER CHANCES FOR MIXED PCPN AS TIME GOES ON. BEHIND THIS BAND NOT MUCH HAPPENING SO WILL CONTINUE TREND OF LOW POPS AFT MIDNIGHT. TEMPERATURES STILL ABOVE FREEZING AND LIKELY TO REMAIN SO WITH COOLEST READINGS OVER FAR NORTH. WILL ADJUST TEMPERATURES UP ACROSS FAR SOUTH WITH LATE ARRIVAL OF COLD ADVECTION OTHERWISE CURRENT MINIMUM TEMPERATURES SEEM REASONABLE. WINDS HAVE BEEN HOLDING BLO ADVISORY CRITERIA FOR LAST COUPLE OF HOURS AND WILL CANCEL WITH EVENING UPDATE ALTHOUGH EXPECT WINDY CONDITIONS TO CONTINUE MOST OF OVERNIGHT. && .AVIATION... STRONG SOUTH WINDS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MUCH OF THE NIGHT...BECOMING WEST BY MORNING. VFR CIGS EXPECTED THROUGH THIS EVENING. CIGS EXPECTED TO LOWER LATER THIS EVENING WITH BAND OF -RA/-SN MOVING THROUGH. DO NOT EXPECT EXTREMELY LOW CIGS OR VSBY (GIVEN TRACK OF THE SURFACE LOW)...MOST LIKELY HIGH MVFR OR LOW VFR. && .FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ND...NONE. MN...NONE. && VOELKER
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND 1108 AM CDT SAT MAR 29 2008 MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024- 026>030-038-039-049-052>054-301615- 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- 1108 AM CDT SAT MAR 29 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA...WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT SOUTH SOUTHEAST WINDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH ARE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT OVER ALL OF EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND ADJACENT PORTIONS OF NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. THE WINDS WILL SWITCH TO THE WEST AT 25 TO 35 MPH LATE TONIGHT OVER EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND BY EARLY SUNDAY MORNING OVER NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. A LITTLE LIGHT SNOW IS ALSO POSSIBLE ALONG THE CANADIAN BORDER. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY THE NEXT CHANCE FOR LIGHT SNOW WILL BE ON MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT...WITH THE BEST CHANCES ALONG AND SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 94. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. HOPPES/GODON
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A sign was blown down onto a pickup truck on South Washington Street in Grand Forks. The truck sustained extensive damage.
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, March 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: 88341.