Tornadoes · United States · North Dakota · 1999

F2 tornado, Lankin to Adams, North Dakota, June 6, 1999

From Lankin to Adams, this F2 tornado ran 3.1 miles across Walsh County on June 6, 1999, touching down at 2:30 PM CDT and reaching 80 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $20,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mphthis tornado

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
F2
Date
June 6, 1999
Touchdown
2:30 PM CDT (19:30 UTC)
Path length
3.1 miles (5.0 km)
Path width
80 yards (73 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$20,000
County
Walsh County
Touchdown point
48.270, -98.000
Lift-off point
48.320, -97.920
Record number
1049

What the Weather Service recorded

Several large trees were snapped off and light poles were bent over. Several metal grain bins were blown off their concrete foundations and thrown 200 feet. An old shed was also tossed 150 feet.

A 54x108 foot building and a shed were destroyed by the tornado. One tractor inside was moved and the building doors were wrapped around the cab. Shingles from the barn were impaled in the swather. Some of the farm equipment was overturned and some boards were driven into the ground. Debris was picked up and tossed in a nearby slough.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
19:35 UTC20:10 UTCTornado WarningFGF
20:09 UTC20:45 UTCTornado WarningFGF

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 16:11 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), 12:00Z

7.5 hours before the tornado, 267 km from the path. June 6, 1999.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Bismarck Municip, ND at 12:00Z on 1999-06-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 338 joules per kilogram, CIN -27, lifted condensation level 874 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Bismarck Municip, ND at 12:00Z on 1999-06-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 107 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 27 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
338 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-27 J/kg
Surface CAPE
967 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
874 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
107 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
138 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.2
0-3 km lapse rate
6.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), 00:00Z

4.5 hours after it, 267 km from the path. June 7, 1999.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Bismarck Municip, ND at 00:00Z on 1999-06-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1 joules per kilogram, CIN -87, lifted condensation level 750 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Bismarck Municip, ND at 00:00Z on 1999-06-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 44 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 23 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-87 J/kg
Surface CAPE
55 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
750 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
44 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
9 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Grand_forks_afb (RDR), 56 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
17:35 UTC80.680.640° 6 kt1000
17:55 UTC80.680.650° 7 kt999.7
18:55 UTC84.259170° 18 kt24999.3
19:55 UTC84.253.6180° 22 kt27999.7
20:55 UTC82.455.4170° 18 kt1000

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 98 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:29 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1999 tornado in North DakotaEvery tornado in North Dakota since 1950Warnings in force in North Dakota nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 6, 1999

36 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 612:25 PM CDTF0Sioux, ND1.010
June 61:30 PM CDTF0Burleigh, ND0.50$20,000
June 61:30 PM CDTF0Eddy, ND0.50
June 61:45 PM CDTF0Eddy, ND0.50
June 61:50 PM CDTF0Ramsey, ND3.00
June 62:00 PM CDTF0Benson, ND1.00
June 62:05 PM CDTF0Benson, ND0.50
June 62:05 PM CDTF0Ramsey, ND2.00
June 62:20 PM CDTF0Burleigh, ND0.510
June 62:20 PM CDTF0Ramsey, ND1.00
June 62:20 PM CDTF1Nelson, ND2.00$100,000
June 62:40 PM CDTF0Benson, ND0.50
June 62:40 PM CDTF2Walsh, ND3.0150$250,000
June 62:49 PM CDTF0Sheridan, ND0.510
June 63:00 PM CDTF0Roseau, MN0.50
June 63:07 PM CDTF0Walsh, ND0.50
June 63:10 PM CDTF0Roseau, MN0.20
June 63:14 PM CDTF0Stephenson, IL0.110
June 63:15 PM CDTF0Pembina, ND0.50
June 63:20 PM CDTF0Roseau, MN0.50
June 63:20 PM CDTF0Walsh, ND0.50
June 63:20 PM CDTF4Pembina, ND8.0500$1.0 million
June 63:30 PM CDTF0Pembina, ND0.50
June 63:40 PM CDTF1Webster, IA2.040$10,000
June 64:00 PM CDTF0Mercer, IL0.110
June 64:10 PM CDTF0Wright, IA0.120
June 64:19 PM CDTF0Wright, IA0.120
June 64:25 PM CDTF0Jefferson, WI0.130$3,000
June 64:27 PM CDTF0Hancock, IA0.120
June 64:30 PM CDTF1Franklin, IA11.540$10,000
June 64:45 PM CDTF1Waukesha, WI0.240$100,000
June 64:46 PM CDTF0Cerro Gordo, IA0.120
June 67:05 PM CDTF0Hamilton, IA0.20
June 67:14 PM CDTF1Story, IA0.730$2,000
June 67:15 PM CDTF0Hamilton, IA0.120
June 67:34 PM CDTF0Fisher, TX0.110

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.