Thunderstorm Wind — Kidder, North Dakota

2023-09-04 · near Haynes, Kidder, North Dakota

Event narrative

A small Park Model mobile, which was on blocks and anchored down, was completely destroyed, with the undercarriage separating from the unit, though the deck remained in its spot with a grill still on it. A 55 gallon barrel of steel scrap was blown over and rolled. Multiple three foot diameter cottonwood trees were damaged, with some uprooted and a few older ones snapped. About one-quarter mile to the east of this location a grain bin was blown across a road, and a shop wall was blown out. Windbreak panels were toppled, with one tossed and flipped over. All damage was blown toward the north and east, the direction the storm was moving.

Wider weather episode

An area of thunderstorms stretching from far southeast Montana towards southwest South Dakota developed ahead of an upper level trough, which moved to the northeast towards North Dakota. As the storms pushed into North Dakota, they encountered an atmosphere of elevated instability and strong deep layer shear. Strong and damaging wind gusts quickly became the key threat with these storms as they progressed to the northeast, though a few storms did produce large hail, with the largest hail being half-dollar size in McLean County. Multiple events of wind gusts over 70 mph occurred. The strongest wind gust estimated at 100 mph occurred in far northwest Kidder County, where neighboring farmsteads sustained heavy damage with a destroyed mobile home and grain bin, a severely damaged shop building, and multiple large trees either uprooted or snapped.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (47.3145, -100.0376)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1141334. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.