Hail — Burleigh, North Dakota

2016-06-17 · near Bismarck, Burleigh, North Dakota

Event narrative

A severe thunderstorm struck northern portions of the city of Bismarck around 4:30 AM CDT. Large hail combined with strong wind gusts to cause substantial damage. The largest hail with a diameter of 3.25 inches fell near Legacy High School. Winds of 75 mph combined with large hail to cause a swath of substantial damage from along Divide Avenue in north Bismarck to approximately five miles north of the city of Bismarck. Siding, roofs, and windows were damaged on homes. Multiple car dealerships sustained hail damage, which included the largest dealership in the city.

Wider weather episode

A slow-moving isolated supercell developed in Morton County along a weak cold front during the evening hours in an environment with very strong instability and significant low level moisture. The storm weakened in the late evening as additional storms moved out of southeast Montana into southwest North Dakota. The storms grew into a large bow echo that propagated northeast in a moisture rich environment, with a few supercells developing ahead of the bow. The greatest amount of damage occurred in the Bismarck area of Burleigh County, where very strong wind gusts combined with hail as large as baseballs causing extensive damage to northern portions of the city along with rural locations to the north. The strongest winds were reported in Hettinger County near Bert, where gusts to 80 mph occurred.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (46.8233, -100.8147)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 632654. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.