A compact, well-defined, upper level disturbance tracked along and south of Interstate 94 during the late afternoon and early evening of the 16th. It was an extremely slow moving feature, as wind speeds were very weak.
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.
A compact, well-defined, upper level disturbance tracked along and south of Interstate 94 during the late afternoon and early evening of the 16th. It was an extremely slow moving feature, as wind speeds were very weak. Thunderstorms that were associated with it produced heavy rain, funnel clouds, and isolated strong wind gusts.
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 16, 8:47 PM CST, 1 hour 53 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND 947 PM CDT SAT AUG 16 2014 .UPDATE... ISSUED AT 946 PM CDT SAT AUG 16 2014 THERE WAS A BAND OF HEAVIER RAIN THAT APPEARED TO BE MOVING UP INTO THE FARGO MOORHEAD AREA. HOWEVER IN THE PAST HALF HOUR THE STRONGER REFLECTIVITIES WEAKENED AND NOW IT LOOKS LIKE JUST STEADY LIGHT TO MODERATE RAIN. THE STRONGER ECHOES HAVE SHIFTED INTO WEST CENTRAL MN AS EXPECTED BUT EVEN THESE ARE NOT THAT IMPRESSIVE ANYMORE. THE RAINFALL TONIGHT HAS BEEN HEAVY AT TIMES BUT HAS NOT SAT IN ONE PLACE FOR VERY LONG. THINK THIS TREND WILL CONTINUE BUT WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR. WITH THE HIGH DEW POINT VALUES FOG IS STILL A POSSIBILITY AND WILL ALSO RAISE LOW TEMPS A BIT. && .SHORT TERM...(THIS EVENING THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT) ISSUED AT 301 PM CDT SAT AUG 16 2014 VERY INTERESTING FORECAST AS SLOW MOVING WEATHER SYSTEM APPROACHES THE RED RIVER VALLEY AND LAKES REGION. FOR TONIGHT THE MAIN CHALLENGE IS HOW TO HANDLE THE UPPER LOW/CONVECTIVE COMPLEX THAT HAS PRODUCED SIGNIFICANT RAINS TO OUR WEST. EXPECT THIS SYSTEM TO CONTINUE ITS EASTWARD TREK AT 10KTS - 15KTS IN SPLIT LARGE SCALE FLOW. WITH VERY HIGH PWATS AND MODEST INSTABILITY ISOLATED HEAVY RAINS LIKELY. VARIOUS HIRES MODELS WEAKEN THE COMPLEX AS IT MOVES INTO THE FGF CWFA EARLY...THEN SOME SHOW RE- INTENSIFICATION AS THE SYSTEM INTERACTS WITH BOUNDARY MOVING SOUTHWEST. HAVE FOLLOWED THE MODEL TRENDS WITH HIGHEST POPS AND HEAVIEST QPF OVER THE SOUTHWEST CWFA. SUNDAY FORECAST IS ALSO PROBLEMATIC AS THE SYSTEM TO THE WEST IS EXPECTED TO MOVE ACROSS THE FGF CWFA. CURRENT THINKING IS THE SHEARING THAT IS SHOWN IN THE MODELS AND APPARENT IN W/V IMAGERY WILL ALLOW FOR LESS CONCENTRATION OF CONVECTION. WHILE THE SYSTEM MAY ACCELERATE SOMEWHAT...IT WILL STILL MOVE FAIRLY SLOWLY. THE GFS/ECMWF AND ESPECIALLY GEM-NH SHOW SIGNIFICANT QPF MAINLY OVER THE WEST AND SOUTH FA. HAVE FOLLOWED A BLEND OF THE HPC/GFS/GEM FOR RAINFALL TONIGHT INTO SUNDAY. ECMWF/GFS/GEM SHOW GREATEST INSTABILITY AND 700 MB COOLING ALONG AND WEST OF VALLEY IN THE 18Z SUN - 00Z MON PERIOD. HAVE CORRESPONDINGLY UPPED POPS THIS PERIOD. DUE TO RECENT DRY SPELL AND EXPECTED WEAKENING WILL ISSUE A HYDROLOGIC STATEMENT AS PONDING WOULD STILL OCCUR IF LOCALIZED HIGH RATES ARE REALIZED. SUNDAY NIGHT WILL SEE A CONTINUE OF PRECIPITATION WITH A DECREASE IN THE HEAVY RAIN RISK AS EXPECTED CONVECTION MOVES ACROSS THE CWFA. .LONG TERM...(MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY) ISSUED AT 301 PM CDT SAT AUG 16 2014 FOR MONDAY THE RISK FOR HEAVY RAINS SHOULD SHIFT EAST. UPPER WAVE CURRENTLY OVER NORTHERN MONTANA EXPECTED TO MOVE ALONG THE INTERNATIONAL BORDER. THIS UPPER LOW TURNS INTO AN OPEN WAVE AND PROGRESSES INTO MINNESOTA BY MONDAY NIGHT. THIS SHOULD PUSH THE DEEPER MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY EAST OF OUR CWFA ENDING THE PRECIPITATION. FOR TUESDAY GUIDANCE IN GOOD AGREEMENT THAT 500 MB RIDGE BUILDS INTO THE PLAINS AHEAD OF NEXT TROUGH OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. SURFACE FLOW EXPECTED TO BE QUITE WEAK AND DRYING COLUMN SUGGESTS A RAIN FREE AND WARMER DAY. TUESDAY NIGHT-SATURDAY...MODELS ARE IN AGREEMENT THAT THIS PERIOD WILL BEGIN DRY AS THE REGION WILL BE BETWEEN SYSTEMS...WITH WEAK RIDGING OVERHEAD. THURSDAY AND INTO THE WEEKEND THERE WILL BE MULTIPLE CHANCES FOR PRECIPITATION AS THE UPPER FLOW BECOMES SOUTHWEST. TEMPERATURES DEPENDENT ON PRECIP CHANCES AND CLOUD COVER...BUT SHOULD BE MOSTLY NEAR NORMAL VALUES. && .AVIATION...(FOR THE 00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z SUNDAY EVENING) ISSUED AT 708 PM CDT SAT AUG 16 2014 VERY TOUGH SET OF TAFS TO WRITE. THINK MOST OF TONIGHTS CONVECTION WILL STAY AROUND KFAR AND NOT AFFECT ANY OF THE OTHER TAF SITES. MAY ALSO BE SOME AREAS OF FOG AROUND IN THE LATE NIGHT/EARLY MORNING TIME FRAME...AS THERE WAS LAST NIGHT. WIND SPEEDS WILL GENERALLY STAY ON THE LIGHT SIDE. THERE MAY ALSO BE SOME CONVECTION SPREADING INTO THE KDVL REGION TOMORROW AFTERNOON. CONFIDENCE LOW AT THIS POINT SO WILL TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT THIS WITH THE NEXT TAF SET. && .FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ND...NONE. MN...NONE. && UPDATE...GODON SHORT TERM...EWENS LONG TERM...EWENS/TG AVIATION...GODON
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND 317 PM CDT SAT AUG 16 2014 MNZ001-002-004>009-013>017-022>024-NDZ006>008-014>016-024-026-027- 029-030-054-172030- WEST POLK-NORMAN-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- TOWNER-CAVALIER-PEMBINA-BENSON-RAMSEY-EASTERN WALSH-EDDY-NELSON- GRAND FORKS-STEELE-TRAILL-WESTERN WALSH- 317 PM CDT SAT AUG 16 2014 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA...WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE FORECAST TO SLOWLY MOVE INTO THE DEVILS LAKE AND RED RIVER VALLEY LATER THIS EVENING. THE BEST CHANCE FOR RAIN WILL BE WEST OF THE RED RIVER. ISOLATED HEAVY RAINFALL IS POSSIBLE DUE TO THE SLOW MOVEMENT OF THIS WEATHER SYSTEM. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL INCREASE SUNDAY AND CONTINUE THROUGH MONDAY. A FEW STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE...ALTHOUGH WIDESPREAD SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE NOT ANTICIPATED. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL IS POSSIBLE. ADDITIONAL SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE LATER IN THE WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED. MNZ003-027>032-040-NDZ028-038-039-049-052-053-172030- CLAY-WEST BECKER-EAST BECKER-WILKIN-WEST OTTER TAIL- EAST OTTER TAIL-WADENA-GRANT-GRIGGS-BARNES-CASS-RANSOM-SARGENT- RICHLAND- 317 PM CDT SAT AUG 16 2014 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA...WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT A LARGE...SLOW MOVING UPPER LOW AND ASSOCIATED AREA OF RAIN IS EXPECTED TO MOVE INTO PORTIONS OF THE SOUTHERN RED RIVER VALLEY THIS EVENING. A VERY MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS WILL ALLOW FOR THUNDERSTORMS...SOME PRODUCING EXCESSIVE RAINS .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE SUNDAY THROUGH MONDAY. A FEW STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE...ALTHOUGH WIDESPREAD SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE NOT ANTICIPATED. LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN IS THE MORE LIKELY RISK. ADDITIONAL SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE LATER IN THE WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED. EWENS
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
620 PM CDT SAT AUG 16 2014
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0525 PM FUNNEL CLOUD FORMAN 46.11N 97.64W
08/16/2014 SARGENT ND PUBLIC
NEAR THE SCHOOL ON THE WEST END OF TOWN.
0527 PM FUNNEL CLOUD COGSWELL 46.11N 97.78W
08/16/2014 SARGENT ND PUBLIC
DIRECTLY ABOVE TOWN.
&&
JKAISERThe Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 149 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 04:39 UTC.
2 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A boat was sunk by the heavy rain. The rain guage read over four inches, but was blocked by leaves, so an accurate reading was impossible.
Several secondary and county roads were overtopped and damaged due to flood waters. The Leaf River was reported flowing upstream due to higher downstream water.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Minnesota in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in Minnesota, August 2014
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: 528447, 528450.