During the early morning hours of Saturday, May 22nd, scattered nocturnal thunderstorms across south central North Dakota helped to transport strong winds associated with a low level jet to the surface. Severe thunderstorm wind gusts occurred across central Emmons County and blew off part of a roof of a local elementary school in Linton, as well as resulting in several large trees being blown…
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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.
During the early morning hours of Saturday, May 22nd, scattered nocturnal thunderstorms across south central North Dakota helped to transport strong winds associated with a low level jet to the surface. Severe thunderstorm wind gusts occurred across central Emmons County and blew off part of a roof of a local elementary school in Linton, as well as resulting in several large trees being blown down.
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 May 21, 2:00 PM CST, 13 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND 300 PM CDT FRI MAY 21 2010 .SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT... THE CURRENT SHORT TERM PERIOD IS SETTING UP TO BE QUITE ACTIVE. MAIN CONCERN THIS FORECAST PERIOD IS THE POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE STORMS SATURDAY AFTERNOON...BUT MORE LIKELY SATURDAY NIGHT. CURRENTLY...A FRONTAL SYSTEM IS DRIFTING EAST ACROSS CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA AND IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN OVER THE CENTRAL SECTIONS OF THE STATE OVERNIGHT. INCREASING LOW LEVEL SOUTHERLY FLOW (50-60 KTS ACROSS SD) IN RESPONSE TO STRENGTHENING H250 MB JET WILL SET UP A GOOD WARM ADVECTION /OVERRUNNING EVENT TONIGHT. EXPECT THE FOCUS FOR PRECIPITATION WILL BE ALONG AND TO THE WEST OF THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY WHICH SHOULD EXTEND FROM NEAR DEVILS LAKE TO MOBRIDGE TONIGHT. THIS SHOULD BE COMPOSED MAINLY OF SHOWERS AND SCATTERED TO ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS AS INSTABILITY SEEMS TO BE A BIT LIMITED. ON SATURDAY...MODEL SOUNDINGS SHOW SIGNIFICANT MID LEVEL WARMING DURING THE DAY AS AN ELEVATED MIXED LAYER MOVES OVER AND DESCENDS ACROSS THE REGION. BY SATURDAY EVENING...CAPE VALUES OF 1500 TO 2000 JOULES CAN BE SEEN ACROSS CENTRAL ND. WITH THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY STILL IN PLACE...STRONG WINDS ALOFT AND NOW SIGNIFICANT INSTABILITY THE THREAT OF SEVERE STORMS WOULD SEEM TO BE IN CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA ALONG THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY. MODELS SUGGEST AN AFTER 00Z EVENT BUT SOME SEVERE POTENTIAL CANT BE RULED OUT PRIOR TO 00Z IN THE VICINITY OF THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY. RESIDUAL CONVECTION WILL BE EXITING THE REGION SUNDAY MORNING AND SUNDAY APPEARS TO BE A MORE QUIET PERIOD. YET ANOTHER SIGNIFICANT SHORTWAVE WILL BE HEADED TO THE NORTHERN PLAINS MONDAY INTO MONDAY NIGHT. THIS LOOKS TO BE ANOTHER PRECIPITATION PRODUCER. .LONG TERM...TUESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY THE ECMWF AND GFS HAVE SIMILAR TRENDS OVER THE LONG TERM. THE OVERALL PATTERN WILL REMAIN CONSISTENT WITH A TROUGH IN THE WEST AND RIDGING TO THE EAST. THIS PUTS THE FORECAST AREA IN SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT THROUGH THURSDAY...BY FRIDAY THE TROUGH EDGES WEST ESTABLISHING AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE OVER THE PLAINS. A SERIES OF SHORT WAVES MOVING THROUGH THE BROAD SCALE PATTERN COMBINED WITH THEIR SURFACE LOWS WILL BRING INCREASED DYNAMICS AND POTENTIAL INSTABILITY TO THE FORECAST AREA FOR OFF AND ON CHANCES OF THUNDERSTORMS. BY FRIDAY...THE RIDGING SHOULD SHUNT ANY POTENTIAL PRECIPITATION WEST. OVERALL HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE TO BE A CHALLENGE DUE TO THE TIMING OF THE WEATHER SYSTEMS MOVING THROUGH THE AREA. OVERALL SHOULD SEE TEMPERATURES NEAR NORMAL THROUGH THE PERIOD. && .AVIATION...THE NEXT ROUND OF PRECIPITATION IS NOW IN NORTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA AND IS MOVING NORTHEAST. PRECIPITATION TONIGHT SHOULD BE MAINLY SHOWERS BUT THERE COULD BE SOME TSTMS IN LATER. WILL INITIALLY BE VFR WITH CEILINGS AT OR ABOVE 6 THOUSAND AGL...BUT WILL LIKELY SEE CEILINGS LOWER TO MVFR AND POSSIBLY LOWER BY MORNING. && .BIS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && WAA/TSW/RB
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND 424 AM CDT FRI MAY 21 2010 NDZ001>005-009>013-017>023-025-031>037-040>048-050-051-220930- DIVIDE-BURKE-RENVILLE-BOTTINEAU-ROLETTE-WILLIAMS-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- 424 AM CDT FRI MAY 21 2010 /324 AM MDT FRI MAY 21 2010/ 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...TODAY AND TONIGHT THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA TODAY. SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED WITH ANY STORMS THAT MAY DEVELOP. A STRONG STORM SYSTEM WILL THEN BRING LIKELY SHOWERS AND SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS TO MUCH OF THE REGION TONIGHT. ALTHOUGH MODERATE TO HEAVY RAINFALL IS POSSIBLE WITH SOME OF THE STRONGER STORMS...IT IS UNLIKELY THE HIGHER PRECIPITATION TOTALS WILL CREATE ANY FLOODING PROBLEMS. STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE LATE TONIGHT OVER PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA. SOME OF THESE STRONGER STORMS MAY SUPPORT MARGINAL SEVERE HAIL AND SOME GUSTY WINDS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY ONGOING THUNDERSTORMS ARE FORECAST SATURDAY MORNING. SOME OF THE STRONGER STORMS MOVING NORTH ACROSS THE REGION MAY SUPPORT LARGE HAIL AND SOME GUSTY WINDS. REDEVELOPMENT OF THUNDERSTORMS IS EXPECTED SATURDAY AFTERNOON INTO SATURDAY NIGHT AS ANOTHER STORM SYSTEM EJECTS NORTHEAST INTO THE NORTHERN PLAINS. STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE OVER MUCH OF THE DAKOTAS...WITH THE BEST CHANCES CENTRAL AND EAST. STAY TUNED FOR UPDATES AS MODELS BECOME MORE CERTAIN ON WHEN AND WHERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL REDEVELOP SATURDAY DAYTIME AND NIGHT. ANOTHER ROUND OF POSSIBLE STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IS FORECAST FOR MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT...AND PERHAPS AGAIN EARLY NEXT WEEK MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT. NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STORM SPOTTERS ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO REPORT ANY SEVERE WEATHER TO EITHER THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN BISMARCK...OR TO LOCAL AUTHORITIES. NH
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Severe thunderstorm wind gusts resulted in damage to a roof of an old elementary school and several large trees blown over in Linton.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Dakota in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in North Dakota, May 2010
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: 226361.