Most People Don’t Know About North Dakota’s Deadly Tornado Alley
By Tori Jane|Published May 11, 2022
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Tori Jane
Author
Tori Jane is a storm chaser, writer, photographer, and the village idiot - in that order. When she's not out and about dancing with the meanest storms on planet Earth for funsies she can be found wandering, shooting landscapes, writing, editing photos, and otherwise up to no good. Legend has it that she can also be occasionally spotted typing up short bios in the third person, but those rumors are unsubstantiated.
When you ask the average person when – and where – they would normally expect tornadoes in the United States, what do you suppose they would say? More often than not, they’ll generally mention something along the lines of “springtime in Tornado Alley.” If you ask them to elaborate on that, it’s usually the states of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas that are offered up as the more-specific “wheres.”
Most wouldn’t realize a fascinating truth about where “Tornado Alley” really is if you encompass the entire season (tornadoes: they aren’t just for mid-spring anymore!): some might successfully argue that “Tornado Alley” extends as far west as parts of central and most of eastern Colorado, as far east as Ohio, as far south as Louisiana, and as far north as Minnesota and North Dakota. That’s right – North Dakota isn’t considered “safe” from tornadoes, and although we may not see nearly as many spin-ups as, say, Texas or Kansas, we DO see tornadoes every year, though at a time most wouldn’t think of: summertime. As it turns out, tornadoes in North Dakota do most certainly occur, and they tend to strike a little later than most people expect them to. Check out the stats:
While North Dakota only sees 21 to 32 tornadoes per year (compared to Texas's 155 and Kansas's 96), it's no stranger to strong and/or deadly storms.
A significant majority of tornadoes in North Dakota over the years - since 1950, anyway - have been as weak as a tornado can be, rated F0s up until 2006 and EF0s from 2007 to the current day, after the implementation of the Enhanced Fujita Scale in February of '07.
North Dakota most definitely DOES have a notable tornado season, and violent storms have occurred here more than once.
When it comes to storms and tornadoes that are as nasty as they come - namely, tornadoes of the F4 and F5 varieties - North Dakota has seen a small handful, some of which made history.
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Perhaps the most infamous example is that of the Fargo-Moorehead tornado that occurred in the 1950s; it was many decades ago, but there are most certainly still plenty of people alive who remember the nightmare storm.
It struck on June 20th, 1957, as part of a long-lived, cyclic supercell storm that bore five tornadoes and violently ripped through parts of North Dakota and Minnesota. The town of Fargo was particularly hard-hit, killing ten and injuring 103.
Since 1950, there have been just three monstrous tornadoes rated as F5s, and at this point, one might be wondering: when can one expect tornadoes in North Dakota?
While the stereotypical "Tornado Alley" states see their tornado season from early to late spring in April and May, the northern Midwest sees its tornado season later in the year during the heat of summer.
Most tornadoes in North Dakota occur in June, July, and August, with a few occasional early birds in May and a straggler or two in September. Tornadoes outside of those months are surprisingly rare, though they do occur occasionally.
Every county in North Dakota has seen at least a tornado or two, but there are just 14 counties that have seen violent tornadoes (Pembina, Mountrail, Grand Forks, Traill, Cass, Barnes, Stutsman, Kidder, Burleigh, Morton, Hettinger, Grant, Emmons, and Richland).
Of those 14 counties, only three (Cass, Morton, and Emmons) have seen the dreaded F5, and even still, those were back in the 1950s (all of them).
We’re not sure about you, but we’re perfectly okay with F5s – and nowadays, EF5s – staying far from us, way back in the annals of history. Have you ever experienced a tornado in North Dakota? When – and where – was it? Tell us your stories in the comments!
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