An upper level low pressure system dropped from central Saskatchewan into western North Dakota during the afternoon of the 11th. A few showers formed during the early afternoon west and north of Fargo and produced several funnel clouds.
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The episode as NWS FGF wrote it up.
An upper level low pressure system dropped from central Saskatchewan into western North Dakota during the afternoon of the 11th. A few showers formed during the early afternoon west and north of Fargo and produced several funnel clouds.
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 11, 9:23 AM CST, 4 hours 1 minute earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND 1023 AM CDT FRI SEP 11 2009 .DISCUSSION... KIND OF A CHALLENGING FORECAST UPDATE TODAY...WITH HUGE CHANGES IN MANY OF THE FORECAST VARIABLES POSSIBLE OVER VERY SHORT DISTANCES. AS FAR AS LINGERING RAIN EFFECTS FROM LAST NIGHT...THE BAND OF HEAVIEST RAIN FELL ACROSS THE KDVL BASIN UP INTO THE FAR NORTHERN RED RIVER VALLEY. RAIN REPORTS THIS MORNING INDICATE A GENERAL 1.50 TO JUST A BIT OVER 2 INCHES ACROSS THIS AREA. MOST OF THIS RAIN HAS NOW SOAKED IN...SO DID LET THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR PEMBINA COUNTY EXPIRE. LATEST RADAR IMAGERY SHOWS THE MOST RAIN NOW ALONG AND WEST OF KDVL AND MOVING UP TOWARD THE KPKD/KBJI AREAS. WILL KEEP THE HIGHEST PCPN CHANCES IN THESE TWO AREAS AND LOWER THEM ELSEWHERE. CURRENTLY HAVE A DRY SLOT WITH SUNNY SKIES POISED JUST WEST OF OUR FA. THINK THAT AS SUN WARMS THINGS UP...THE VERY COLD TEMPS ALOFT SHOULD RESULT IN AN EXTENSIVE CUMULUS FIELD BY LATE MORNING/AFTERNOON IN THIS AREA. HOWEVER...ANY DELAYS IN THIS PROCESS WILL RESULT IN BIG TEMPERATURE IMPLICATIONS. OVERALL THE CLOUDS SHOULD HOLD DOWN TEMPS IN ALL AREAS TODAY...AND ONLY MADE MINIMAL CHANGES TO INHERITED HIGH TEMPS. SFC LOW IS RIGHT ALONG THE RED RIVER VALLEY AND EXPECT THIS TO WEAKEN AND FILL THRU THE DAY TOO...WHICH WILL RESULT IN WIDE VARIATIONS TO WIND SPEEDS AND DIRECTIONS AS WELL. && .AVIATION... WILL BE IN THE MONITORING MODE FOR TAFS TODAY DUE TO THE POTENTIAL FOR HUGE CHANGES IN CLOUDS/WINDS/RAIN. SOME IMPROVING TRENDS SHOULD BEGIN TONIGHT INTO SAT. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 337 AM CDT FRI SEP 11 2009/ SHORT TERM...CHALLENGE WILL BE PRECIP AMTS AND CHANCES INTO THE WEEKEND. 00Z MODELS INITIALIZED WITH MINIMAL ERRORS. WILL FOLLOW A NON-GFS CONSENSUS FOR THIS PACKAGE AS THE GFS RETROGRADES THE UPPER LOW TOO QUICKLY. TODAY...AREA OF MODERATE TO HEAVY SHOWERS/T-STORMS NOW ACROSS MUCH OF EASTERN ND INTO NW MINNESOTA. UPPER LOW WILL CONTINUE TO DIG INTO THE CENTRAL DAKOTAS TODAY. IN RESPONSE...SFC FRONT WILL CONTINUE EAST...AND MOST LIKELY STALL SOMEWHERE NEAR THE RED RIVER VALLEY. A SFC LOW WILL STRENGTHEN AND REMAIN STATIONARY THROUGH MUCH OF THE DAY ACROSS THE DVL BASIN. GIVEN THIS SCENARIO...EXPECT CURRENT ACTIVITY TO CONTINUE EASTWARD THROUGH THE EARLY MORNING HOURS BEFORE STALLING AND WEAKENING. ACTIVITY SHOULD CONTINUE ACROSS THE NW FA THROUGH MUCH OF THE DAY GIVEN ASSUMED SFC CONVERGENCE. MODELS ARE SHOWING A DRY SLOT TO WORK ITS WAY INTO THE VALLEY...BUT LOW CONVECTIVE TEMPS SHOULD MEAN MOSTLY CLOUDY AND ISOLD PRECIP EVEN HERE. RAINFALL TOTALS WILL BE HIGHEST ACROSS THE DVL BASIN WITH PRECIP CONTINUING THE LONGEST HERE. BEST GUESS IS THAT CURRENT TOTALS ARE 1-1.5 INCHES...WITH AN ADDITIONAL 1-2 INCHES POSSIBLE. THIS SHOULD OCCUR OVER A LONG ENOUGH PERIOD TO PREVENT ANY AREAL FLOODING CONCERNS...BUT WILL MONITOR. TONIGHT-SUNDAY...AS UPPER LOW PROPAGATES WEST AND AWAY FROM THE REGION UPPER RIDGING WILL TAKE HOLD. PRECIP CHANCES WILL QUICKLY DIMINISH INTO SATURDAY. KEPT SLIGHT CHANCE SHOWERS THROUGH SATURDAY...ALTHOUGH THINK MOST AREAS WILL BE DRY. TEMPS NEAR NORMAL. LONG TERM (MON-THUR)...SAME GENERAL THINKING THAT THIS PERIOD WILL BEGIN DRY UNTIL MIDWEEK WHEN UPPER LOW AGAIN AFFECTS THE REGION. NO CHANGES NEEDED. && .FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ND...NONE. MN...NONE. && GODON
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND 606 AM CDT FRI SEP 11 2009 MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024- 026>030-038-039-049-052>054-121200- 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- 606 AM CDT FRI SEP 11 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA...WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE THROUGH THE AFTERNOON HOURS. THIS ACTIVITY WILL BE MORE WIDESPREAD DURING THE MORNING HOURS...BECOMING ISOLATED TO SCATTERED BY THE AFTERNOON HOURS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. TG
The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:22 UTC.
1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
Many sources around the Fargo area reported funnels on the afternoon of the 11th. All of the funnels were short lived and did not touch down. The most visible funnel was reported just west of the Fargo landfill, along 12th Avenue North.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Dakota in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in North Dakota, September 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: 188666.