Tornadoes · United States · North Dakota · 2015

EF0 tornado, Killdeer, North Dakota, June 2, 2015

Name: EF0 tornado, Killdeer, North Dakota, June 2, 2015
Start: 2015-06-02T19:57:00.000Z
End: 2015-06-02T19:59:00.000Z
Location: Killdeer, North Dakota

This EF0 tornado ran 0.9 miles across Dunn County on June 2, 2015, touching down at 1:57 PM MDT and reaching 20 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

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

EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
EF2111 to 135 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.
EF3136 to 165 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
EF5over 200 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: EF0
Date: June 2, 2015
Touchdown: 1:57 PM MDT (19:57 UTC)
Lifted: 1:59 PM MDT (19:59 UTC)
On the ground: 2 minutes
Path length: 0.9 miles (1.4 km)
Path width: 20 yards (18 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
County: Dunn County
Touchdown point: 47.361, -102.819
Lift-off point: 47.365, -102.802
Record number: 1506021357-01

The damage survey

2 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BIS, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 65 mph.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

What the Weather Service recorded

A frontal boundary extended from west central into north central North Dakota while a surface low was noted over north central South Dakota. Instability and shear increased through mid-day with strong storms developing by mid-afternoon. The largest hail was over the southern James River Valley where sizes up to three inches in diameter were reported.

This was a brief tornado in an open field. There was no damage and no structures were impacted, so the rating is EF0.

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

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Bismarck, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Jun 2, 1:14 PM MDT, 43 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 2, 1:14 PM MDT, 43 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
214 PM CDT TUE JUN 2 2015

.SHORT TERM...(THIS EVENING THROUGH WEDNESDAY)
ISSUED AT 206 PM CDT TUE JUN 2 2015

MAIN FORECAST PROBLEM IN THE SHORT TERM PERIOD IS RISK OF SEVERE
WEATHER THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. VERY MOIST AND UNSTABLE
ATMOSPHERE IS SETTING UP OVER CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA THIS AFTERNOON.
SURFACE BASED CAPE VALUES ARE EXCEEDING 3000J/KG AS OF 1 PM THIS
AFTERNOON...WITH 30-35 KNOTS OF BULK SHEAR SOUTH CENTRAL...AND
PWATS IN EXCESS OF AN INCH OVER ALL BUT SOUTHWEST NORTH
DAKOTA...AND OVER 1.3 IN OVER THE JAMES RIVER VALLEY. A SURFACE
BOUNDARY REMAINS FROM WEST CENTRAL INTO NORTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA
WITH SHOWERS AND EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUING ALONG AND NORTH
OF THIS BOUNDARY. TO THE SOUTH... SURFACE LOW PRESSURE IS SITUATED
NEAR MOBRIDGE SOUTH DAKOTA WITH CLEAR TO PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES OVER
THE FAR SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH CENTRAL...AIDING IN THE SURFACE
DESTABILIZATION. WILL BE SENDING UP A SPECIAL 18Z SOUNDING TODAY.

MESOSCALE MODELS ARE GIVING VARIOUS SOLUTIONS ON HOW CONVECTION MAY
EVOLVE THIS AFTERNOON/EVENING. IN GENERAL...MESOSCALE MODELS HAVE
TRIED TO DEVELOP A FEW SUPERCELLS OVER WESTERN NORTH DAKOTA ALONG
THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY AND TRACKING SOUTHEAST ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL
NORTH DAKOTA DURING THE MID TO LATE AFTERNOON. THEN ADDITIONAL
CONVECTION DEVELOPS LATE AFTERNOON/EARLY THIS EVENING OVER THE
JAMES RIVER VALLEY INTO SOUTH DAKOTA AND TRACKS EAST. LATEST WRF
DEVELOPS A QLCS OVER WESTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND TRACKS IT ACROSS THE
STATE. THE 12Z HOPWRF KEEPS CONVECTION PRETTY MUCH OUT OF THE CWA
TODAY WITH CELLS DEVELOPING JUST SOUTHEAST OF JAMESTOWN AND
TRACKING INTO SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA. NO MATTER WHAT EVENTUALLY
HAPPENS...ANY THUNDERSTORMS THAT DO DEVELOP ACROSS THE SOUTHERN
HALF OF THE STATE WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BECOME SEVERE. LARGE
HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS WILL BE THE MOST OBVIOUS THREATS...BUT VERY
HEAVY RAIN WILL ALSO BE A THREAT AND A TORNADO CANNOT BE RULED OUT
WITH ANY DISCRETE SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORM THAT DEVELOPS.

THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT SHOULD LESSEN FROM WEST TO EAST THIS
EVENING...MUCH EARLIER THAN LAST NIGHTS ROUND OF SEVERE WEATHER. AS
THE SURFACE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM TRACKS EAST LATE TONIGHT AND
WEDNESDAY MODELS ARE INDICATING ABUNDANT LOW LEVEL STRATUS
DEVELOPING IN A NORTH FLOW. EXPECT A MUCH COOLER DAY WEDNESDAY
WITH SHOWERS ENDING ACROSS THE NORTH CENTRAL INTO THE JAMES RIVER
VALLEY WEDNESDAY MORNING.

.LONG TERM...(WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY)
ISSUED AT 206 PM CDT TUE JUN 2 2015

AN ACTIVE WEATHER PATTERN WILL HIGHLIGHT THE LONG TERM.

EARLIER MODEL RUNS INDICATED AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE OVER NORTH
DAKOTA THROUGH LATE WEEK. NOW INDICATIONS ARE THIS RIDGE WILL BE
FURTHER TO EAST...ALLOWING MOST OF NORTH DAKOTA TO RESIDE IN
SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT AS A DEEP UPPER LEVEL LONGWAVE TROUGH
DEVELOPS ACROSS THE WEST COAST. THIS WILL ALLOW NUMEROUS
SHORTWAVE TROUGHS TO TRAVERSE THE NORTHERN PLAINS. THIS WILL BRING
A NEARLY DAILY CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS.

TEMPERATURES SHOULD GENERALLY BE IN THE 70S AND 80S DURING THE
AFTERNOON HOURS THROUGH THE WEEKEND.

&&

.AVIATION...(FOR THE 18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON)
ISSUED AT 206 PM CDT TUE JUN 2 2015

SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE ACROSS THE NORTHWEST
AND NORTH CENTRAL INCLUDING KISN AND KMOT WITH MVFR TO EVEN IFR
CEILINGS. SCATTERED MVFR CEILINGS FROM KDIK TO KBIS AND KJMS ARE
EXPECTED TO LIFT THIS AFTERNOON. THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO
DEVELOP ACROSS THE SOUTHERN HALF THIS AFTERNOON AND TRACK
SOUTHEAST. ADDED A MENTION OF THUNDER THROUGH AROUND 21 UTC AT
KDIK...00 UTC AT KBIS AND 02 UTC AT KJMS. ANY STORM CAN EXPECT TO
HAVE MVFR-IFR CEILING/VSBYS IN VERY HEAVY RAIN. MVFR TO OCCASIONAL
IFR CEILINGS CONTINUE LATER TONIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY AS SURFACE FLOW
TURNS NORTH WITH LOWER STRATUS REMAINING THROUGH 18Z WEDNESDAY.

&&

.BIS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NONE.
&&

SHORT TERM...TWH
LONG TERM...AJ
AVIATION...TWH

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 2, 1:22 PM MDT, 35 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
222 PM CDT TUE JUN 2 2015

NDZ001>005-009>013-017>023-025-031>037-040>048-050-051-031930-
DIVIDE-BURKE-RENVILLE-BOTTINEAU-ROLETTE-WILLIAMS-MOUNTRAIL-WARD-
MCHENRY-PIERCE-MCKENZIE-DUNN-MERCER-OLIVER-MCLEAN-SHERIDAN-WELLS-
FOSTER-GOLDEN VALLEY-BILLINGS-STARK-MORTON-BURLEIGH-KIDDER-
STUTSMAN-SLOPE-HETTINGER-GRANT-BOWMAN-ADAMS-SIOUX-EMMONS-LOGAN-
LA MOURE-MCINTOSH-DICKEY-
222 PM CDT TUE JUN 2 2015

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL
NORTH DAKOTA...NORTHWEST NORTH DAKOTA...SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH
DAKOTA...SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA AND SOUTHWEST NORTH DAKOTA.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE SCATTERED OVER THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON INTO
TONIGHT. SOME OF THE STORMS FROM MID AFTERNOON THROUGH THIS
EVENING COULD BE SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WIND...AND VERY
HEAVY RAIN THAT COULD LEAD TO FLOODING OF POOR DRAINAGE AND LOW
LYING AREAS. THE GREATEST THREAT IS IN THE AREA SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 2
AND EAST OF HIGHWAY 85. ALSO...AN ISOLATED TORNADO IS POSSIBLE
LATER TODAY OVER THE FAR SOUTH CENTRAL INTO THE SOUTHERN JAMES
RIVER VALLEY.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY

THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
SPOTTERS...KEEP ALERT THROUGH THE DAY AND INTO THE EVENING. REPORT
ALL HAIL...WIND OVER 40 MPH...AND HEAVY RAIN TO THE NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE. PLEASE SUMMIT REPORTS TO OUR SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES
AT FACEBOOK.COM/NWSBISMARCK...TWITTER.COM/NWSBISMARCK OR GIVE US A
CALL AT 701-223-4582.

TWH/AJ

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jun 2, 8:55 AM MDT, 5 hours 2 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
955 AM CDT TUE JUN 02 2015

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0954 AM     TSTM WND GST     5 NE GOLDEN VALLEY      47.34N 101.99W
06/02/2015  M59 MPH          MERCER             ND   STORM CHASER

            THUNDERSTORM WIND GUST

&&

AC

Local storm report, Jun 2, 9:25 AM MDT, 4 hours 32 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
1025 AM CDT TUE JUN 02 2015

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1041 PM     TSTM WND GST     5 NE GOLDEN VALLEY      47.34N 101.99W
06/01/2015  M59 MPH          MERCER             ND   STORM CHASER

            THUNDERSTORM WIND GUST

&&

CORRECTED EVENT DATE...EVENT TIME

AC

Local storm report, Jun 2, 9:55 AM MDT, 4 hours 2 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
1055 AM CDT TUE JUN 02 2015

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1043 AM     HEAVY RAIN       WASHBURN                47.29N 101.03W
06/02/2015  M1.65 INCH       MCLEAN             ND   PUBLIC

            OVERNIGHT STORM TOTAL

&&

CORRECTED SOURCE

AC

Local storm report, Jun 2, 9:57 AM MDT, 4 hours before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
1057 AM CDT TUE JUN 02 2015

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1055 AM     HEAVY RAIN       8 N HALLIDAY            47.47N 102.34W
06/02/2015  M2.65 INCH       DUNN               ND   PUBLIC

            OVERNIGHT STORM TOTAL

&&

AC

Local storm report, Jun 2, 10:08 AM MDT, 3 hours 49 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
1108 AM CDT TUE JUN 02 2015

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1107 AM     HEAVY RAIN       FRYBURG                 46.87N 103.30W
06/02/2015  M1.00 INCH       BILLINGS           ND   BROADCAST MEDIA

            OVERNIGHT STORM TOTAL

&&

AC

Local storm report, Jun 2, 1:53 PM MDT, 4 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
253 PM CDT TUE JUN 02 2015

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0232 PM     FUNNEL CLOUD     2 W DICKINSON           46.88N 102.83W
06/02/2015                   STARK              ND   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            REPORTED BY EMERGENCY MANAGER WITH PHOTO EMAILED AND
            OBVIOUS FUNNEL.

&&

SCHECK

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

8.0 hours before the tornado, 173 km from the path. June 2, 2015.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -99270 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1035 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 34 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -77 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -68 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 4.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

4.0 hours after it, 173 km from the path. June 3, 2015.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

Mixed-layer CAPE: 1270 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -54 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 2271 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1030 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 59 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 132 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.7
Supercell composite: 6.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 6.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Watford (S25), 59 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Bismarck radar (KBIS), 169 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:57 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 track Every 2015 tornado in North Dakota Every tornado in North Dakota since 1950 Warnings in force in North Dakota now The forecast where you are

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.