Violent winds tear through Northern Plains
By
Adriana Navarro, AccuWeather staff writer &
Lauren Fox, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Jul 18, 2020 1:50 AM EDT
A home in Elburn, Illinois, was struck by lightning on July 9, doing some minor damage to the house.
As severe thunderstorms rolled through the Northern Plains on Friday, high-speed winds became the most far-reaching effect of the storms.
Violent winds tore through the town of Churchs Ferry, North Dakota, around 4:30 p.m. CDT on Friday afternoon. The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center measured winds from 58 to 101 mph in the city. For reference of how powerful winds of that speed are, an EF1 tornado has wind speeds from 86 to 110 mph.
The NWS Storm Prediction Center reported over 60 severe wind reports on Friday, July 17, with the lowest recorded wind speed at 58 mph in both Grand Forks and Adams, North Dakota.
Video from social media shows not just a storm rolling in near Grand Forks, North Dakota, but also the force of 60 mph wind roaring across the plains.
About an hour's drive away, sirens blared in Devils Lake, North Dakota, on Friday afternoon as a tornado-warned storm blew through the area. The town sat just a few miles from Churchs Ferry, North Dakota, where winds reached 101 mph. As of Friday evening, there were no reports of confirmed tornadoes.
Hail ranging from 1-inch, golfball-sized hail to 2-inch, hen egg-sized hail fell over Minot, North Dakota, after 2 p.m. CDT, and hail larger than 2 inches in diameter was found in Springfield, South Dakota. By Friday afternoon, the storms had begun to move into Minnesota.
"A bowing arc of storms with heavy rain, locally damaging winds, and hail moved into northwest Minnesota and also stretched westward from near Fargo to Bismarck in North Dakota," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Houk said.
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Damage from the winds reportedly rolled and destroyed bleachers at a football field in Argyle, Minnesota, according to the Storm Prediction Center. Trees were uprooted and strewn across roads, and a grain bin had been dented in amid the storms in Argyle. There were no reports of injuries.
"The storms continued to roll east-southeastward overnight, threatening towns with damaging wind gusts, frequent lightning and even a few tornado warnings across Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan," AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said.
A radar screenshot at 2:15 a.m. CDT Saturday morning showing the line of thunderstorms as it tracked across the Upper Midwest. (Radar image: AccuWeather)
The leading edge of the line of storms, Buckingham added, stretched some 200 miles from northeast to southwest, threatening nearly every location in its path with severe weather as the passed through.
The thunderstorms are expected to continue into Saturday, when they'll track across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. New storms are forecast flare up across similar areas of the Midwest Saturday into Saturday night.
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News / Weather News
Violent winds tear through Northern Plains
By Adriana Navarro, AccuWeather staff writer & Lauren Fox, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Jul 18, 2020 1:50 AM EDT
A home in Elburn, Illinois, was struck by lightning on July 9, doing some minor damage to the house.
As severe thunderstorms rolled through the Northern Plains on Friday, high-speed winds became the most far-reaching effect of the storms.
Violent winds tore through the town of Churchs Ferry, North Dakota, around 4:30 p.m. CDT on Friday afternoon. The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center measured winds from 58 to 101 mph in the city. For reference of how powerful winds of that speed are, an EF1 tornado has wind speeds from 86 to 110 mph.
The NWS Storm Prediction Center reported over 60 severe wind reports on Friday, July 17, with the lowest recorded wind speed at 58 mph in both Grand Forks and Adams, North Dakota.
Video from social media shows not just a storm rolling in near Grand Forks, North Dakota, but also the force of 60 mph wind roaring across the plains.
About an hour's drive away, sirens blared in Devils Lake, North Dakota, on Friday afternoon as a tornado-warned storm blew through the area. The town sat just a few miles from Churchs Ferry, North Dakota, where winds reached 101 mph. As of Friday evening, there were no reports of confirmed tornadoes.
Hail ranging from 1-inch, golfball-sized hail to 2-inch, hen egg-sized hail fell over Minot, North Dakota, after 2 p.m. CDT, and hail larger than 2 inches in diameter was found in Springfield, South Dakota. By Friday afternoon, the storms had begun to move into Minnesota.
"A bowing arc of storms with heavy rain, locally damaging winds, and hail moved into northwest Minnesota and also stretched westward from near Fargo to Bismarck in North Dakota," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Houk said.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
Damage from the winds reportedly rolled and destroyed bleachers at a football field in Argyle, Minnesota, according to the Storm Prediction Center. Trees were uprooted and strewn across roads, and a grain bin had been dented in amid the storms in Argyle. There were no reports of injuries.
"The storms continued to roll east-southeastward overnight, threatening towns with damaging wind gusts, frequent lightning and even a few tornado warnings across Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan," AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said.
A radar screenshot at 2:15 a.m. CDT Saturday morning showing the line of thunderstorms as it tracked across the Upper Midwest. (Radar image: AccuWeather)
The leading edge of the line of storms, Buckingham added, stretched some 200 miles from northeast to southwest, threatening nearly every location in its path with severe weather as the passed through.
The thunderstorms are expected to continue into Saturday, when they'll track across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. New storms are forecast flare up across similar areas of the Midwest Saturday into Saturday night.
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