Thunderstorm Wind — Stutsman, North Dakota

2025-08-08 · near Jamestown, Stutsman, North Dakota

Event narrative

Significant damage, primarily to trees, occurred over the southern part of Jamestown. The area with the greatest damage was generally between Foxtrot Road on the west and and 10th Avenue East on the east, resulting in a path length of approximately

two miles. The width of the greatest damage stretched from near 17th Street on the south end to around 11th Street on the north, approximately one-half mile. At the start of the greatest damage in the vicinity of Meidinger Park and areas south, a pontoon boat was flipped, a tree was uprooted, multiple smaller trees were either snapped or had significant branches broken off, and a camper was pushed off its blocks. Towards the east near the intersection of 14th Avenue SW and 17th Street SW, a manufactured home had its roofing material uplifted, and large spruce trees were uprooted. Continuing east passing over the Interstate 94 Business Loop, multiple trees were uprooted including spruce trees along the loop. Further east along 17th Street SE, the metal roof panels blew off the east side of a building towards the northeast and across the road. At McElroy Park and areas surrounding, many trees were uprooted, with some

smaller to medium size trees snapped. To the east near the intersection of 14th Street SE and 8th Avenue SE, an L-shaped building had its east side roofing panels blown off.

Wider weather episode

A very unstable environment was in place over western and central North Dakota which combined with very strong deep layer shear to produce widespread severe thunderstorm wind gusts along with some large hail over western and central North Dakota. To start the episode, a pair of upper level short-wave troughs approached North Dakota from Montana. The first trough had limited storm develop due to a capped atmosphere, though one storm did strengthen enough to produce one-inch diameter hail over Rolette County. Storms primarily developed as the second trough approached. Initially, storms produced a mix of large hail and strong wind gusts, but as the episode evolved and the storms moved east, very strong wind gusts became the primary concern by late evening. Significant damage occurred at multiple locations, with the two most notable events occurring in Stutsman County. In Jamestown, significant damage occurred over the southern part of the city, primarily to trees. Damage also occurred to some homes and buildings. To the north of Courtenay, a farm suffered significant damage to buildings and grain handling equipment. Winds at both locations were estimated at 100 mph, with both locations also suffering significant damage during the June 20, 2025 derecho event.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (46.8940, -98.7380)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1289722. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.