Tornadoes · United States · North Dakota · 2006
F1 tornado, Walcott to Leonard, North Dakota, August 5, 2006
From Walcott to Leonard, this F1 tornado ran 3.0 miles across Cass and Richland counties on August 5, 2006, touching down at 7:33 PM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody.
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.
F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
F2113 to 157 mph
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- F1
- Date
- August 5, 2006
- Touchdown
- 7:33 PM CDT (00:33 UTC)
- Path length
- 3.0 miles (4.8 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Counties
- Cass and Richland counties
- Touchdown point
- 46.650, -97.180
- Lift-off point
- 46.600, -97.120
- Record number
- 792
What the Weather Service recorded
This weak tornado originated 9 miles east of Sheldon in Ransom County at 1810 CST. The total path length was about 3 miles. The tornado tore down numerous tree branches in shelterbelts along the way. Peak wind speeds were estimated at 65 mph.
This weak tornado tracked southeast for about a half mile and then crossed into Richland County, where it continued for another 2.5 miles. The tornado knocked down or uprooted several trees in shelterbelts along the track. Peak winds were estimated at 90 mph.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
29 minutes of warning. NWS FGF issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:04 UTC, 29 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:00 UTC.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 19:03 UTC and running to 01:10 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17:53 UTC | 19:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF |
| 18:56 UTC | 19:41 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF |
| 19:03 UTC | 01:10 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | FGF |
| 23:52 UTC | 00:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF |
| 00:04 UTC | 01:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | FGF |
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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:47 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 radar
The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 101 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:32 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.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 2 W Leonard | Cass, ND | |
| 00:00 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 3 S Leonard | Richland, ND | |
| 00:00 UTC | HAIL 2 | 3 Sw Leonard | Ransom, ND | |
| 00:10 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 9 E Sheldon | Ransom, ND | A WEAK TORNADO TRACKED EAST BY SOUTHEAST INTO RICHLAND COUNTY ABOUT 10E OF SHELDON AROUND 713 PM CDT. THE TORNADO TORE DOWN NUMEROUS TREE BRANCHES IN SHELTER BELTS ALONG THE WAY AND ENDED ABOUT 6W OF BARRIE AROUND 718 PM |
| 00:20 UTC | HAIL 1.25 | 4 Wnw Barrie | Richland, ND | |
| 00:25 UTC | HAIL 2.5 | 4 Wsw Barrie | Richland, ND | |
| 00:33 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 3 E Leonard | Cass, ND | A WEAK TORNADO TRACKED SOUTHEAST AND CROSSED INTO RICHLAND COUNTY AROUND 3ESE OF LEONARD BY 735 PM CDT. THE TORNADO KNOCKED DOWN OR UPROOTED SEVERAL TREES IN SHELTER BELTS ALONG THE TRACK AND APPEARS TO HAVE LIFTED ABOUT |
| 01:03 UTC | TSTM WND GST 60 | Colfax | Richland, ND | |
| 01:04 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Colfax | Richland, ND | PERSISTENT WALL CLOUD WITH FUNNEL OBSERVED. |
| 01:33 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 5 Nw Mooreton | Richland, ND | A WEAK TORNADO TRACKED INTERMITTENTLY TO THE WEST END OF MOORETON BY 847 PM CDT. A FEW LARGE TREES WERE TOPPLED ALONG THE PATH. PEAK WINDS ESTIMATED AT 70 MPH. |
| 01:45 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 2 N Mooreton | Richland, ND | WELL DEVELOPED FUNNEL VIEWED FROM INTERSTATE 29 TO NORTHWEST OF THE MOORETON SCALES. |
| 01:55 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 5 Wsw Mooreton | Richland, ND | WELL DEVELOPED FUNNEL VIEWED FROM INTERSTATE 29. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2006 tornado in North DakotaEvery tornado in North Dakota since 1950Warnings in force in North Dakota nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of August 5, 2006
6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 5 | 6:41 PM CDT | F1 | Roseau, MN | 5.0 | 50 | |||
| August 5 | 7:02 PM CDT | F3 | Roseau, MN | 4.0 | 500 | $20 million | ||
| August 5 | 7:10 PM CDT | F0 | Ransom, ND | 3.0 | 25 | |||
| August 5 | 7:22 PM CDT | F0 | Lake of the Woods, MN | 9.0 | 25 | |||
| August 5 | 7:25 PM CDT | F1 | Roseau, MN | 11.0 | 100 | |||
| August 5 | 8:33 PM CDT | F0 | Richland, ND | 5.0 | 25 |
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.