At the opposite ends of Minnesota, two severe weather events happened in the same day. Along with the isolated flooding rains in southeast Minnesota, there were two weak tornadoes reported in Kittson and Marshall County in far northwestern Minnesota. The first happened at 8:30pm and began in North Dakota near the town of Drayton. This tornado crossed the Red River into Minnesota. Damage was relatively minor. Some trees were damaged and a road sign was bent. The tornado lifted at 8:41pm. A second tornado touched down at 9pm in Marshall County 3 miles NNW of Stephen. This was another weak tornado and broke branches off trees in shelter belts and caused some minor crop swirls.
Below are local storm reports courtesy the National Weather Service.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
708 PM CDT THU JUL 17 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0716 PM FUNNEL CLOUD 1 NE WALHALLA 48.93N 97.90W
07/16/2008 PEMBINA ND TRAINED SPOTTER
0730 PM HAIL 3 ENE LEROY 48.94N 97.69W
07/16/2008 M1.00 INCH PEMBINA ND PUBLIC
0734 PM FUNNEL CLOUD 4 SE LEROY 48.88N 97.69W
07/16/2008 PEMBINA ND LAW ENFORCEMENT
PERSISTENT WALL CLOUD AND FUNNEL.
0735 PM HAIL 5 W HANNAH 48.97N 98.80W
07/16/2008 E0.88 INCH CAVALIER ND PUBLIC
0744 PM HAIL BACKOO 48.84N 97.71W
07/16/2008 M0.88 INCH PEMBINA ND TRAINED SPOTTER
0751 PM HAIL 5 N CAVALIER 48.87N 97.62W
07/16/2008 E1.75 INCH PEMBINA ND TRAINED SPOTTER
0751 PM HAIL BACKOO 48.84N 97.71W
07/16/2008 E1.75 INCH PEMBINA ND TRAINED SPOTTER
0800 PM FUNNEL CLOUD DRESDEN 48.83N 98.48W
07/16/2008 CAVALIER ND EMERGENCY MNGR
PERSISTENT WALL CLOUD WITH FUNNEL VIEWED.
0807 PM TORNADO 4 NNE GLASSTON 48.76N 97.41W
07/16/2008 F1 PEMBINA ND LAW ENFORCEMENT
FUNNEL VIEWED BY OBSERVERS. DAMAGE SURVEY FOUND EVIDENCE
OF A BRIEF TOUCHDOWN WITH SEVERAL TREES SNAPPED OFF IN A
SHELTER BELT. ESTIMATED PEAK WIND SPEED OF 95 MPH.
0821 PM FUNNEL CLOUD 4 WSW BOWESMONT 48.67N 97.26W
07/16/2008 PEMBINA ND LAW ENFORCEMENT
RAIN WRAPPED FUNNEL BRIEFLY VIEWED.
0832 PM TORNADO 6 NNW DRAYTON 48.64N 97.23W
07/16/2008 F1 PEMBINA ND NWS STORM SURVEY
TORNADO TRACKED FOR ABOUT 3 MILES FROM ABOUT 6 NNW OF
DRAYTON TO ABOUT 4 NNE OF DRAYTON BEFORE CROSSING THE RED
RIVER INTO KITTSON COUNTY MN BY 839 PM CDT. THE TORNADO
CONTINUED INTO KITTSON COUNTY FOR ABOUT 1 MORE MILE
BEFORE LIFTING ABOUT 10 WNW OF DONALDSON BY 841 PM CDT.
THE TORNADO BROKE DOWN SEVERAL LARGE TREE BRANCHES BENT A
ROAD SIGN AND PRODUCED MINOR CROP SWIRLS. PEAK WINDS
ESTIMATED AT 90 MPH.
0835 PM HAIL 8 N DRAYTON 48.68N 97.18W
07/16/2008 E1.75 INCH PEMBINA ND LAW ENFORCEMENT
0839 PM TORNADO 11 WNW DONALDSON 48.64N 97.12W
07/16/2008 F1 PEMBINA ND NWS STORM SURVEY
TORNADO TRACKED FROM PEMBINA COUNTY AND CONTINUED FOR
ABOUT 1 MILE TO 10 WNW OF DONALDSON BY 841 PM CDT.
TORNADO BROKE DOWN SEVERAL LARGE TREE BRANCHES. PEAK
WINDS ESTIMATED AT 90 MPH.
0849 PM FUNNEL CLOUD 5 ESE ROBBIN 48.55N 97.04W
07/16/2008 KITTSON MN TRAINED SPOTTER
0852 PM HAIL DONALDSON 48.57N 96.90W
07/16/2008 M1.00 INCH KITTSON MN PUBLIC
0900 PM TORNADO 4 NNW STEPHEN 48.51N 96.91W
07/16/2008 F0 MARSHALL MN NWS STORM SURVEY
TORNADO TRACKED FOR NEARLY A MILE TO ABOUT 3 NNW OF
STEPHEN BY 902 PM CDT. BRANCHES WERE BROKEN OFF IN
SHELTER BELTS AND MINOR CROP SWIRLS WERE NOTED. PEAK
WINDS ESTIMATED AT 80 MPH.
0921 PM FUNNEL CLOUD 5 NE ARGYLE 48.39N 96.74W
07/16/2008 MARSHALL MN TRAINED SPOTTER
0945 PM HAIL 5 W NEWFOLDEN 48.36N 96.44W
07/16/2008 M0.88 INCH MARSHALL MN PUBLIC