Broad southwest flow aloft remained over the northern plains, in advance of an upper level low pressure system over northern Idaho. Pieces of upper level energy continued to rotate through northwest Minnesota, helping to sustain thunderstorms well into the evening.
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.
Broad southwest flow aloft remained over the northern plains, in advance of an upper level low pressure system over northern Idaho. Pieces of upper level energy continued to rotate through northwest Minnesota, helping to sustain thunderstorms well into the evening. One thunderstorm complex tracked over Upper Red Lake and northeast into the Waskish area, producing strong wind gusts with quite a bit of tree 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 Aug 14, 9:20 PM CST, 1 hour 35 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND 1020 PM CDT FRI AUG 14 2009 .DISCUSSION...CANCELLED SVR WATCH 704 EARLY. STRONGEST ACTIVITY (GUSTS TO 45 MPH) HAS MOVED OUT OF THE WATCH BOX. WILL BE HARD PRESSED TO SEE ANY REGENERATION OF STRONGER STORMS FOR AWHILE. BEST FORCING AND INSTABILITY SHUT DOWN FOR A BIT FOLLOWING CURRENT ACTIVITY. && .AVIATION...EXPECT A BREAK FROM SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS AFTER CURRENT ACTIVITY MOVES EAST...BUT THIS BREAK WILL PROBABLY BE SHORT LIVED WITH ACTIVITY AGAIN INCREASING DURING THE EARLY MORNING HOURS. EXPECT VFR CIGS WITH MVFR CIGS MIXED IN UNDER SHOWER/THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 917 PM CDT FRI AUG 14 2009/ DISCUSSION...INCREASED POPS WITH SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ONGOING. LOW-LEVEL JET IS NOSING INTO THE SOUTHWEST/SOUTHCENTRAL FA WITH A COUPLE STRONGER (NON-SEVERE) STORMS IN THIS AREA. THIS AREA WILL BE THE MOST LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE SEVERE WX THROUGH MIDNIGHT (GIVEN EXTRA FORCING SUPPLIED BY LOW-LEVEL JET)...AND CURRENT SVR WATCH STILL VALID. OTHERWISE...WARM MID-LEVEL TEMPS ARE KEEPING STORMS FROM BECOMING SEVERE EVEN WITH A VERY UNSTABLE ATMOSPHERE. ANTICIPATE THIS ACTIVITY (BEING DRIVEN BY UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE) TO MOSTLY END SOMETIME AFTER MIDNIGHT. BREAK IN ACTIVITY SHOULD BE SHORT-LIVED GIVEN ADDITIONAL ENERGY UPSTREAM TO MOVE ACROSS THE FA. PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 235 PM CDT FRI AUG 14 2009/ SHORT TERM... THREAT FOR ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS...THOUGH LESS CHANCE FOR SVR...WILL OCCUR SATURDAY AS ENTIRE SYSTEM MOVES THROUGH WITH THE SYSTEM EXITING SLOWLY ON SUNDAY. MUCH COOLER AIR MOVES IN ON SUNDAY AS AN UPPER LOW TROUGH DROPS INTO NW ND AND 850 MB TEMPS COOL INTO THE SINGLE DIGITS. LONG TERM TUE-FRI... NOT TOO MUCH AGREEMENT ON THE DETAILS IN THE TUE-FRI FORECAST. ON THE LARGE SCALE...IT DOES LOOK TO REMAIN ON THE COOL SIDE OF NORMAL. RIDGING GETS GOING ON THE WEST COAST AGAIN SETTING THE NATIONS MIDSECTION BACK INTO A BROAD TROUGH/CYCLONIC FLOW. WITH THE DISAGREEMENT IN DETAILS...HARD TO BE TOO SPECIFIC. SOME MODEL SOLUTIONS ARE SHOWING 850MB TEMPS DROPPING DOWN INTO THE 4C RANGE SOME MORNINGS...SO COOL IS THE TREND. TRIED TO STAY CLOSE TO FORECAST CONTINUITY IN REGARD TO PCPN CHANCES. IN CYCLONIC FLOW ANY GOOD WAVE COULD KEEP PCPN AROUND OVERNIGHT...BUT BEST CHANCES WOULD PROBABLY BE DURING PEAK HEATING WED/THU. && .FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ND...NONE. MN...NONE. && TG
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND 701 AM CDT FRI AUG 14 2009 MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024- 026>030-038-039-049-052>054-151215- 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- 701 AM CDT FRI AUG 14 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA...WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA...NORTHWESTERN AND WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA TODAY INTO TONIGHT. THE MAIN SEVERE WEATHER THREATS ARE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY THE SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUES THROUGH SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA...NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS REMAIN THE MAIN SEVERE WEATHER THREATS. THE POTENTIAL FOR THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUES ON SUNDAY. THERE IS ALSO A POSSIBILITY OF THUNDERSTORMS FROM TUESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY AS THE NEXT LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM MOVES SOUTH OUT OF CANADA. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS POSSIBLE TODAY INTO SATURDAY. NG
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
815 PM CDT FRI AUG 14 2009
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0720 PM TSTM WND DMG 3 SSE CRETE 46.16N 97.94W
08/14/2009 SARGENT ND PUBLIC
SEVERAL 4 TO 6 INCH BRANCHES BROKEN DOWN IN SHELTER BELT.
&&
GGUSTThe Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 222 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 04:54 UTC.
3 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Large trees up to 8 inches in diameter were blown down across a driveway. A nearby corn crop was also flattened. The Waskish AWOS was knocked off-line due to a power outage, so its wind statistics were unavailable.
A dozen trees, about 10 to 12 inches in diameter, were blown down east of Waskish.
Multiple trees approximately 10 to 20 inches in diameter were uprooted or snapped. An old trailer was also damaged. An empty 450 gallon water tank was thrown about 100 yards over two fences and into a ditch. Crops were also damaged in the same area.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Minnesota in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Minnesota, August 2009
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: 180460, 180461, 180462.