Does North Dakota have tornadoes? (Fargo, Bismarck: home, school, tornado)

[Mopac1980]

Does North Dakota have alot of tornadoes like many parts of the country does? If so are the tornadoes in ND as strong as the tornadoes in Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and parts of the Midwest?

[Jammie]

Yes, according to the more recent maps, No. Dak. is part of tornado alley. It seems more concentrated in the eastern part of the state though.

They are normally not the F-4s or F-5s (old scale, I know)that are seen in the southern parts of tornado alley.

It seems that flooding in some areas of the state is actually more of a disaster then the tornadoes are.

[DaninEGF]

North Dakota has a shorter severe weather season then the southern and central plains and thus the number of tornado and severe events such as hail and damaging winds will be lower. Overall tornadoes up here tend to be weaker and short lived compared to down south mainly due to the lack of extreme instability often seen down in the southern Plains. But large tornadoes do occur....look at the recent EF-4 at Northwood ND outside of Grand Forks, the first deadly tornado in ND since 1997. The last other F-4 Tornado was in Barnes county ND back in 2002. Lest not forget the last F-5 tornado rated in ND was in Fargo in 1957, which recently our NWS office in Grand Forks organzied a special 50th anniversary remembrance event.

Dan GF-EGF

[Jammie]

Dan has always got such precise and accurate info and I'm sure we all appreciate it. Mopac, just so you now that his info will be totally on spot. He's a meteorologist in the area.

[Skytripper]

Tornadoes DO occur in ND.....but like stated above.....not usually as big as further south or as long of a tornado season.
With that siad though.....some of the most severe and intense storms I have ever seen....were IN North Dakota though. They DO get some nasty ones up there....generally....throughout the summer months.
Great entertainment on the northern plains.....adds some excitement to the landscape!

[MikeyToo]

Everything you might want to know about NoDak tornados:

NWS Bismarck, ND Tormado Information

Tornado alley:
Tornado Alley Maps and Information

If your afraid of tornados, I don't think you would want to live in Oklahoma.,)

[Roloff1976]

Hey everyone, we can't forget about the Tornado that hit Elgin, ND in Grant County. This one happend in 1978 and it killed 5 people. So they do hit the western part of the state from time to time.

[vnodak]

I was in the tornado in 1957----------awsome. However, as natural disasters go, it is the least of your worries. Not a big deal.

[StartingOverAgain]

Originally Posted by MikeyToo

If your afraid of tornados, I don't think you would want to live in Oklahoma.,)

I'm currently in Oklahoma and wanting to move to North Dakota. You're absolutely correct, MikeyToo... Tornado's are baaaaaad down here.

I grew up in California where there are earthquakes, lived in North Carolina where there are Hurricanes, and Oklahoma where there are Tornado's. I'd take an earthquake any day over the others.

[stormchasing_is_life]

There actually have been several noteworthy tornadoes in North Dakota. As Dan mentioned, the Northwood and Barnes County tornadoes were very bad. The barnes county one twisted an I beam around a tree and moved a semi across a farm. I have friends in Northwood and it was bad. I have a bunch of friends who go to Northwood school. From what i heard the rumors are they get a new one i don't know for sure. One close to my home was in Mountain, ND on June 6 of 1999. It was an F4 i believe and mountain being only 10 minutes from here it was pretty scary. We have about 20 or so tornadoes a year in ND. The past few years have been pretty dry and so the numbers have been low. Good for the general population. Bad for chasers like myself!