Late in the afternoon of September 19th, scattered thunderstorms developed across southern Manitoba. These storms seemed to develop around a weak surface low that had lingered over the northern Red River Valley through the afternoon.
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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.
Late in the afternoon of September 19th, scattered thunderstorms developed across southern Manitoba. These storms seemed to develop around a weak surface low that had lingered over the northern Red River Valley through the afternoon. One thunderstorm crossed into Pembina County in northeast North Dakota, and immediately showed tornadic tendencies. As this storm crossed into Kittson County in northwest Minnesota it produced a tornado. Other storms resulted in a second tornado as well as several reports of large hail.
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 19, 2:13 PM CST, 2 hours 45 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND 313 PM CDT FRI SEP 19 2014 .SHORT TERM...(THIS EVENING THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT) ISSUED AT 313 PM CDT FRI SEP 19 2014 CONVECTIVE CHANCES AND STRENGTH WILL BE THE MAIN FORECAST PROBLEM FOR TONIGHT AND TOMORROW. WV LOOP SHOWS THE LEADING SHORTWAVE TROUGH THAT BROUGHT THE MORNING ACTIVITY MOVING OFF INTO MN WHILE THERE IS ANOTHER SHORTWAVE UPSTREAM OVER MT. THE FIRST SHORTWAVE WILL MOVE OFF TO THE EAST OVERNIGHT AND THE SECOND MORE WEAK WAVE WILL COME INTO THE NORTHERN PLAINS. THE SFC TROUGH AXIS WILL MOVE OFF FROM THE RED RIVER VALLEY INTO EASTERN MN...WITH A WEAK FRONTAL BOUNDARY DROPPING INTO THE CWA. THE SHORT RANGE MODELS ALL HAVE SOME WIDELY SCATTERED PRECIP ACTIVITY ALONG THIS BOUNDARY AS IT MOVES INTO OUR NORTHERN COUNTIES THIS EVENING. AFTER CLOUDS MUCH OF THE DAY...THE WESTERN HALF OF THE CWA HAS FINALLY CLEARED OUT AND GAINED SOME SFC BASED INSTABILITY. THERE HAVE BEEN TOWERING CU AND A FEW RADAR RETURNS DEVELOPING ALONG THE SFC TROUGH AXIS IN OUR NORTHERN CWA WHILE THE CAP HAS REMAINED IN PLACE FURTHER SOUTH. THINK THERE WILL BE SOME CONVECTION ALONG THE SFC BOUNDARY IT MOVES SOUTH OUT OF CANADA. THE BEST UPPER SUPPORT WILL BE OVER THE WESTERN PARTS OF ND AS THE WEAK SHORTWAVE COMES OUT OF MT...AND THE SHORTWAVE OVER THE RED RIVER VALLEY MOVES EAST. THERE SEEMS TO BE SOME DISCONNECT BETWEEN THE UPPER SUPPORT AND THE BEST INSTABILITY...SO FOR NOW WILL KEEP OUT ANY MENTION OF SEVERE BUT SOME ISOLATED LARGE HAIL IS NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION. ANY CONVECTION ALONG THE BOUNDARY WILL TAPER OFF BY LATE EVENING. TOMORROW...A MUCH STRONGER SHORTWAVE TROUGH WILL BEGIN TO DIG INTO WESTERN MN OUT OF CANADA. THERE WILL BE A BRIEF PERIOD OF WESTERLY WINDS...BUT A STRONGER COLD FRONT WILL MOVE DOWN INTO THE CWA BY PEAK HEATING. THERE DOES NOT SEEM TO BE A HUGE AMOUNT OF INSTABILITY AVAILABLE...WITH SFC BASED CAPE OF AROUND 1000 J/KG ON THE HIGHER END OF THE MODELS...BUT FORCING WITH THE INCOMING SHORTWAVE WILL BE VERY STRONG. WILL HAVE TO WATCH FOR WIND AND HAIL POSSIBILITIES TOMORROW AFTERNOON. THE FRONT WILL ALSO KNOCK DOWN TEMPS A BIT CLOSER TO AVERAGE FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. SATURDAY NIGHT...THE UPPER TROUGH WILL MOVE OFF INTO THE GREAT LAKES...LEAVING THE NORTHERN PLAINS IN NORTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT. THE CENTER OF THE SFC HIGH BEHIND THE COLD FRONT WILL REMAIN OVER THE WESTERN PLAINS AND WE SHOULD HAVE SOME LINGERING CLOUD COVER...SO KEPT LOWS AROUND 50 DEGREES. .LONG TERM...(SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY) ISSUED AT 313 PM CDT FRI SEP 19 2014 SUNDAY AND MONDAY...CONDITIONS WILL BE FAIRLY QUIET AS WE TRANSITION FROM NORTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT TO A RIDGE OVER THE PLAINS. A CUT OFF UPPER LOW WILL REMAIN TO OUR SOUTH AND WEST. TEMPERATURES SHOULD SEE A SLIGHT WARMING TREND FROM THE UPPER 60S ON SUNDAY INTO THE LOW 70S ON MONDAY AS THE SFC HIGH MOVES OFF TO THE SOUTHEAST AND RETURN FLOW SETS UP OVER THE REGION. WILL START OFF THE MON NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY PERIOD WITH 500MB RIDGING OVER THE FA...BUT WILL HAVE A 500MB LOW CUTTING THRU THE RIDGE OVER THE WESTERN HIGH PLAINS. THIS LOW WILL SLOWLY CROSS THE NORTHERN PLAINS TUE THROUGH WED NIGHT. THEREFORE WILL KEEP MON NIGHT DRY BUT HAVE SOME PCPN CHANCES TUE THRU WED NIGHT. AS THE LOW PASSES OFF TO THE EAST WILL BE LOOKING AT DRY WEATHER AGAIN FOR THU/FRI. TEMPS GENERALLY LOOK CLOSE TO NORMAL EARLY ON...BUT BECOME A LITTLE WARMER AGAIN BY THU/FRI. && .AVIATION...(FOR THE 18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z SATURDAY AFTERNOON) ISSUED AT 1247 PM CDT FRI SEP 19 2014 FIRST CHALLENGE WILL BE DETERMINING HOW SOON THE LOW CLOUDS WILL EXIT KFAR/KTVF/KBJI. THINK KFAR/KTVF SHOULD OCCUR BY EARLY TO MID AFTERNOON WHILE KBJI MAY TAKE JUST A LITTLE LONGER. AFTER THESE GO THINK ONLY SOME MID LEVEL SCT-BKN CLOUDS WILL REMAIN. LAST THING TO WATCH WILL BE THE WIND SWITCH. SOUTH-SW WINDS WILL SLOWLY TURN MORE TO THE WEST-SW AND THEN FINALLY WEST TO NW BEHIND THE BOUNDARY. WIND GUSTS HAVE DIED DOWN SOME AT KDVL/KGFK WITH THE MOST GUSTINESS AHEAD OF THE BOUNDARY OR ACROSS OUR MN FA RIGHT NOW. NEXT MORE ORGANIZED BAND OF SHOWERS/TSTMS SHOULD GET GOING ACROSS THE KDVL REGION BY SAT MORNING SO WILL ONLY MENTION AT KDVL FOR NOW. && .FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ND...NONE. MN...NONE. && SHORT TERM...JR LONG TERM...JR/GODON AVIATION...GODON
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND 643 AM CDT FRI SEP 19 2014 MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024- 026>030-038-039-049-052>054-201145- 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-EDDY-NELSON-GRAND FORKS- GRIGGS-STEELE-TRAILL-BARNES-CASS-RANSOM-SARGENT-RICHLAND- WESTERN WALSH- 643 AM CDT FRI SEP 19 2014 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA...WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE FOR ALL OF EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA FROM 6 AM TO 5 PM SATURDAY. STORMS MAY PRODUCE SOME LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. A STRONG UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA SATURDAY AND PRODUCE THE SEVERE WEATHER. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED. HOPPES
The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 156 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:57 UTC.
2 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Nickel to half dollar sized hail cracked the windshield and lights on a fire truck. The hail covered the ground, making it appear white.
Numerous six to eight inch diameter tree branches were broken down from a farmyard eastward to the Red River.
Significant tree and property damage were reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Dakota in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in North Dakota, September 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: 535590, 535591, 535592.