Morning sunshine and moisture from recent rainfall combined to produce afternoon instability along the Red River Valley. In addition, a frontal boundary set up from the Lake of the Woods down into the southern Red River Valley.
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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.
Morning sunshine and moisture from recent rainfall combined to produce afternoon instability along the Red River Valley. In addition, a frontal boundary set up from the Lake of the Woods down into the southern Red River Valley. A few weak thunderstorm cells formed along the boundary by mid afternoon. One of the cells formed just southeast of the Fargo Moorhead area, and it quickly produced a funnel cloud. Many people from the city looking to the southeast saw this funnel and also the resulting tornado. There were also other reports of funnel clouds and tornadoes.
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 May 27, 11:25 AM CST, 1 hour 49 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Grand Forks ND 1225 PM CDT FRI MAY 27 2016 .UPDATE... Issued at 1220 PM CDT Fri May 27 2016 Weak surface boundary across northwest MN, generally from Lake of the Woods to the far southern valley at the present time, continues to be progged to shift slightly north in area that has seen some solar today...with convection initiating around 22Z. Mixed layer capes have increased to over 500 J/Kg along this mostly sunny area...and it seems reasonable to see some activity later in the afternoon as the HRRR has been advertising. Will increase chances for convection across the mid valley for afternoon...with majority of area having chance POPs by 23Z. UPDATE Issued at 917 AM CDT Fri May 27 2016 No planned changes to ongoing forecast. However, HRRR is now initiating convection along inverted trough/sfc boundary which shifts slightly north...along a Warroad to Hillsboro to Lisbon line. This is our area of lowest POPs. Will continue to monitor HI-RES models and SPC mesoanalysis for this area, may need to increase POPs across the central valley on 1 PM forecast. UPDATE Issued at 644 AM CDT Fri May 27 2016 Added some fog to northern areas this morning based on current VSBY. No other changes made. && .SHORT TERM...(Today through Saturday) Issued at 330 AM CDT Fri May 27 2016 Challenging forecast ahead mainly with pcpn potential through the holiday weekend. Main feature of interest will be an upper low over the central/southern plains which will slowly eject NE through the weekend. For today two areas to watch for potential. First will be any SHRA associated with upper low over SW MB. Guidance mainly keeps pcpn north of the border however could see a few showers clip the far N-NW fa so maintained low pops there. Better chances for rain will be across the SE FA as an impulse ejecting from the central plains upper low lifts NE. Best low level forcing will be to our S-SE however a weak boundary currently bisecting the FA from NE-SW will likely move little today and combined with upper impulse cannot rule out potential for pcpn along and south of boundary. Convective parameters marginal for T but again cannot rule it out. Temperatures will hinge on cloud cover but should be able to get into the low-mid 70s most areas. Any diurnally driven pcpn should diminish during the evening as wave lifts out to the NE and low level forcing remains weak. Will maintain chance pops but may likely be too widespread. Central plains upper low lifts NE Saturday. Again best forcing will be to out S-SE however the SE FA will be on the northern fringe of pcpn shield so have higher pops there. Plenty of uncertainty to the NW and most areas may end up dry. High temperatures will again hinge on sky cover. .LONG TERM...(Saturday night through Thursday) Issued at 330 AM CDT Fri May 27 2016 Rain chances will likely be confined to the eastern Fa as remnant upper low lifts into the Mn arrowhead by morning. Thunder chance continue to look minimal. Upper low lifts NE with mid level flow becoming more zonal. This for the most part should bring dry conditions for the remainder of the holiday weekend. With more solar anticipated should see temperatures more on the mid-upper end of the 70s. Memorial Monday to Thursday night time period will revolve around the timing and speed of a rather potent short wave system progged to move across the FA mid week. Ahead of this feature low level thermal axis and the warmest day of the week with max temps on Monday in the upper 70s to low 80s with 500mb ridging ahead of aforementioned wave. The 00Z EC run continues to be faster with short wave energy bringing pcpn into the FA by late Monday night into Tuesday whereas the 00Z GFS remains slower with PCPN holding off until Tuesday morning west and afternoon east. The wave brings down cooler air on the backside with temps on wednesday most likely stuck in the 60s with chances of light rain showers lingering. && .AVIATION...(For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Saturday afternoon) Issued at 1220 PM CDT Fri May 27 2016 Expect mainly VFR conditions through the evening but some model guidance does suggest lower ceilings for a time Saturday morning. Winds will be near or below 10 kts through the period. Greatest degree of uncertainty still is with precip chances. Will include VCSH at all sites excluding KDVL given low confidence in timing and will not mention thunder at this time and will amend as needed as confidence increases. && .FGF Watches/Warnings/Advisories... ND...None. MN...None. && UPDATE...Speicher SHORT TERM...Voelker LONG TERM...JK/Voelker AVIATION...Makowski
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND 613 AM CDT FRI MAY 27 2016 MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024- 026>030-038-039-049-052>054-281115- 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- 613 AM CDT FRI MAY 27 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA...WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT BEST CHANCES FOR SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS TODAY WILL BE ALONG AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM LISBON TO FARGO AND BEMIDJI. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY PERIODIC CHANCES FOR SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS WILL DIMINISH ON SUNDAY. BETTER CHANCES WILL RETURN TO THE REGION TUESDAY. NO SEVERE WEATHER IS ANTICIPATED. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE REQUIRED.
The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 111 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:13 UTC.
3 tornado, 1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
Two funnel clouds were noted between Brooks and Oklee between 110 and 115 PM CST, with at least one brief touchdown reported in an open field.
Multiple persistent funnels were reported by spotters and the broadcast media shortly before 2 PM CST. Eventually at least two of these funnels produced brief non-damaging touchdowns in rural areas between Moorhead and Glyndon.
Evidence from photographs and video indicate that a brief non-damaging touchdown occurred west of highway 52 and just south of 50th avenue south in rural Moorhead Township. Peak winds were estimated at 70 mph.
A brief touchdown was noted in a photo and report in an open field near the Buffalo River. Peak winds were estimated at 70 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Minnesota in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Minnesota, 2016Warnings in Minnesota, May 2016
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: 629201, 629204, 629205, 629206.