Thunderstorm produced high-speed winds, rain over northeast North Dakota, northwestern Minnesota
Sep. 5—GRAND FORKS — High-speed winds impacted the region during a midnight thunderstorm on Tuesday, Sept. 5.
"We had a complex of thunderstorms move up from southwest of our area," said Jennifer Ritterling, National Weather Service meteorologist. "In between about midnight and 2 a.m., it produced some pretty strong wind gusts."
As of Tuesday morning, the strongest winds were reported at 79 mph in Warren, Minnesota. Close behind, 77 mph gusts were reported from the Grand Forks airport.
"(There were) a lot of 40 and 50 mph gusts across Devils Lake into Crookston, Warren (and) Karlstad," Ritterling told the Herald. "The northern portions of our forecast area."
Little storm damage had been reported to Grand Forks NWS.
"There were some reports of trees uprooted near Warren and the Gatzke area, but not too much tree damage here in (Grand Forks) — at least that we've heard of yet," Ritterling said.
As of Tuesday morning, the most significant rainfall was 1.71 inches, southwest of Devils Lake. Grand Forks reported 1.01 inches of rain.
From Sheyenne, North Dakota, toward Alvarado, Argyle, and Oslo, Minnesota, reports ranged from one inch to 1.5 inches of rain, Ritterling said.
NWS received reports of .14 inches to .17 inches of rain in Thief River Falls and 1.3 inches in Alvarado. Rainfall had not been reported from Grafton, Hillsboro or Warren at the time.
"The main impact was the wind that was coming through," Ritterling said. "I know we lost power here in town for a little while overnight."
An outage began near Sunset Drive at 1:35 a.m., according to a representative from Xcel Energy. About 2,371 customers were affected. Power was restored at 7:42 a.m.
