Rash Of Tornadoes Rip Across North Dakota

A swarm of tornadoes tore across parts of central North Dakota and South Dakota Sunday afternoon, leaving some damage as flooding rainfall swamped Bismarck during a bizarre September limited outbreak of severe weather in the Northern Plains.

It began early Sunday afternoon with a confirmed tornado east of Mobridge, South Dakota, which downed power lines, rolled a semi truck, flipped an SUV and caused some damage to a farm. No injuries occurred, according to Walworth County Emergency Management.

Tornadoes then tore through parts of Emmons, Burleigh, Sheridan, McLean and McHenry counties in North Dakota Sunday afternoon and evening. In just over six hours, 20 reports of tornadoes were received by the National Weather Service in North Dakota. Some of these tornadoes were large with multiple vortices, as witnessed by several storm chasers.

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Damage was reported by KFYR-TV to at least one farm near Cannon Ball, about 30 miles south-southeast of Bismarck. Some damage was also reported south of Denhoff in Sheridan County, according to the NWS. No reports of injuries were received.

Damage surveys by the NWS will confirm the number of actual tornadoes, tracks and EF-scale ratings over the next few days.

Flooding Rain

While severe thunderstorms and tornadoes remained east of the city, flooding rain hammered North Dakota's capital city, Bismarck, on Sunday.

Bismarck Municipal Airport picked up almost 2 inches of rain in less than an hour, swamping streets and underpasses and stranding vehicles in the city. One video posted on social media showed water seeping into at least one downtown business.

The 2.44-inch storm total was the city's wettest September day in 31 years, and more than the entire September average of 1.72 inches.

Flooding also closed streets and stranded vehicles Sunday in Jamestown, North Dakota, about halfway between Bismarck and Fargo.

Weird For September

North Dakota has averaged 29 tornadoes each year since 1995, according to the Storm Prediction Center. This outbreak may have spawned a significant chunk of that yearly average.

But they usually don't happen in September in the Peace Garden State.

Only 27 September tornadoes had previously been recorded in North Dakota since 1950, according to NOAA's database. The last damaging North Dakota September tornado happened eight years ago — Sept. 19, 2017 — near Litchville in Barnes County.

The most active months for North Dakota tornadoes have been in June and July, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

"This was a unique environment where the instability didn't really favor much in the way of hail or strong winds, but the low-level shear right near the low pressure system and warm front lifting through N.D. was intense," said NWS-Bismarck science and operations officer Chauncy Schultz.

And if that wasn't strange enough, as the thunderstorms continued into the evening, the greenish tint of the northern lights coincided with flashes of lightning over the state Sunday night.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.