Storm Events Database

Storm Events Database

Event Details:

Event Tornado
-- Scale EF4
-- Length 5 Miles
-- Width 1400 Yards
State NORTH DAKOTA
County/Area GRAND FORKS
WFO FGF
Report Source NWS Storm Survey
NCEI Data Source CSV
Begin Date 2007-08-26 19:42 CST-6
Begin Location 2WSW NORTHWOOD
Begin Lat/Lon 47.7189/-97.6097
End Date 2007-08-26 19:54 CST-6
End Location 2ENE NORTHWOOD
End Lat/Lon 47.7411/-97.5303
Deaths Direct/Indirect 1/0 (fatality details below, when available...)
Injuries Direct/Indirect 18/0
Property Damage 50.00M
Crop Damage 2.00M
Episode Narrative A cold front moved across North Dakota on the 26th, with a hot and humid airmass in place ahead of the front. At 6 pm CST, a surface low was located over southern Manitoba (Canada), just north of Pembina, ND. The cold front stretched to the southwest, back toward Devils Lake (ND) and Bismarck (ND). Ahead of the cold front, temperatures ranged in the low to mid 80s with dew points around 70F. Behind the front, temperatures did not cool significantly, but dew points dropped to the mid 40s. Thunderstorms began to form along and ahead of the cold front by early evening (from northeast ND into south central ND), eventually crossing into northwest Minnesota several hours later. Eight distinct tornadoes occurred over northeast North Dakota and northwest Minnesota during this event.
Event Narrative The tornado touched down about 2 miles west-southwest of Northwood. The tornado crossed the Goose River about a mile west-southwest of the Northwood airport and left a 200 yard wide stretch of downed trees in its wake. By the time it hit the airport, the ground track was one-third of a mile wide and growing wider. At this point the tornado was still visible outside the increasingly heavy rain.
The tornado reached an incredible width of eight-tenths of a mile as it pushed through Northwood to the east-northeast. At this point it had multiple vortices embedded in the overall wedge shaped tornado. The strongest of these vortices appears to have scoured the ground and left broad circulation patterns of debris in the overall damage and debris field. Around this time the tornado likely became wrapped in heavy rain and would have been difficult to observe from a distance. The most extreme damage appeared to be in the northeast corner of the community.
Northwood, in southwest Grand Forks County, had a population of about 1000 people. 90 percent of the roughly 460 homes were damaged. One death occurred in a mobile home, with 18 other injuries reported. The death occurred in a trailer park on the north edge of town, where 19 total units were demolished.
Just to the east of the trailer park, in the area that sustained the extreme damage, three businesses were hit particularly hard. An agricultural company, the towns largest employer, had its buildings heavily damaged. A nearby construction company lost two large steel buildings and other equipment. Steel beams from the two steel buildings were twisted and tossed nearby. Finally, a car dealership lost 15 to 20 vehicles from its parking lot along highway 15. Many of these vehicles were damaged beyond recognition and tossed into nearby fields. One corn field to the north of highway 15 (across from the 3 businesses on the northeast side of town) had it stalks snapped off several inches from the root bases, with pieces of husked corn laying around.
Hangers and airplanes were also damaged at the airport. The local health center, school, supermarket, and grain elevator were damaged. Near the elevator, several rail cars were knocked off the tracks. Hundreds of trees were snapped, uprooted, or damaged. Power was also knocked out to many customers, but eventually was turned off (for safety reasons) to the entire town. A total of about 2600 truckloads of debris were hauled to the town landfill. In the days following the tornado, a Presidential Disaster Declaration was granted.


Event Fatality Details:

Type Age Gender Fatality Location
Death (Direct) 57 Male Mobile/Trailer Home


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Event Map:

Note: The tornado track is approximate based on the beginning (B) and ending (E) locations. The actual tornado path may differ from a straight line.
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All events for this episode:

Location County/Zone St. Date Time T.Z. Type Mag Dth Inj PrD CrD
Totals: 1 18 50.000M 2.000M
MILTON CAVALIER CO. ND 08/26/2007 17:30 CST-6 Hail 1.75 in. 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
TOLNA NELSON CO. ND 08/26/2007 17:45 CST-6 Hail 0.75 in. 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
UNION CAVALIER CO. ND 08/26/2007 17:45 CST-6 Hail 0.75 in. 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
UNION CAVALIER CO. ND 08/26/2007 17:50 CST-6 Funnel Cloud 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
UNION CAVALIER CO. ND 08/26/2007 17:55 CST-6 Tornado EF0 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
GARDAR PEMBINA CO. ND 08/26/2007 18:00 CST-6 Hail 2.50 in. 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
MC VILLE ARPT NELSON CO. ND 08/26/2007 18:00 CST-6 Hail 1.00 in. 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
UNION CAVALIER CO. ND 08/26/2007 18:00 CST-6 Hail 1.75 in. 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
GARDAR PEMBINA CO. ND 08/26/2007 18:03 CST-6 Tornado EF0 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
EDINBURG WALSH CO. ND 08/26/2007 18:11 CST-6 Hail 1.75 in. 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
CRYSTAL PEMBINA CO. ND 08/26/2007 18:15 CST-6 Funnel Cloud 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
CRYSTAL PEMBINA CO. ND 08/26/2007 18:20 CST-6 Tornado EF1 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
CRYSTAL PEMBINA CO. ND 08/26/2007 18:25 CST-6 Hail 1.75 in. 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
HOOPLE WALSH CO. ND 08/26/2007 18:26 CST-6 Tornado EF1 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
CRYSTAL PEMBINA CO. ND 08/26/2007 18:30 CST-6 Hail 1.75 in. 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
HOOPLE WALSH CO. ND 08/26/2007 18:30 CST-6 Hail 1.75 in. 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
HOOPLE WALSH CO. ND 08/26/2007 18:35 CST-6 Hail 2.75 in. 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
HOOPLE WALSH CO. ND 08/26/2007 18:35 CST-6 Thunderstorm Wind 60 kts. EG 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
NASH WALSH CO. ND 08/26/2007 18:40 CST-6 Tornado EF0 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
ANETA NELSON CO. ND 08/26/2007 19:00 CST-6 Funnel Cloud 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
ANETA NELSON CO. ND 08/26/2007 19:04 CST-6 Tornado EF3 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
PETERSBURG NELSON CO. ND 08/26/2007 19:04 CST-6 Hail 1.00 in. 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
AUBURN WALSH CO. ND 08/26/2007 19:10 CST-6 Hail 1.00 in. 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
LOGAN CENTER GRAND FORKS CO. ND 08/26/2007 19:14 CST-6 Tornado EF3 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
KEMPTON GRAND FORKS CO. ND 08/26/2007 19:15 CST-6 Hail 1.00 in. 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
NIAGARA GRAND FORKS CO. ND 08/26/2007 19:15 CST-6 Hail 1.75 in. 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
NORTHWOOD GRAND FORKS CO. ND 08/26/2007 19:27 CST-6 Funnel Cloud 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
NORTHWOOD GRAND FORKS CO. ND 08/26/2007 19:42 CST-6 Tornado EF4 1 18 50.000M 2.000M
MERRIFIELD GRAND FORKS CO. ND 08/26/2007 20:15 CST-6 Hail 0.75 in. 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
MERRIFIELD GRAND FORKS CO. ND 08/26/2007 20:18 CST-6 Tornado EF1 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
GRAND FORKS GRAND FORKS CO. ND 08/26/2007 20:33 CST-6 Hail 0.75 in. 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
REYNOLDS GRAND FORKS CO. ND 08/26/2007 21:00 CST-6 Tornado EF2 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
HATTON TRAILL CO. ND 08/26/2007 21:45 CST-6 Hail 0.88 in. 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
SHARON STEELE CO. ND 08/26/2007 21:45 CST-6 Hail 1.00 in. 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
HOLMES GRAND FORKS CO. ND 08/26/2007 21:50 CST-6 Hail 1.00 in. 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
BUXTON TRAILL CO. ND 08/26/2007 22:07 CST-6 Hail 0.88 in. 0 0 0.00K 0.00K
Totals: 1 18 50.000M 2.000M