Tornado strikes Northwood
A tornado struck Northwood, North Dakota last night at around 8:50 PM (Herald story). At least one person was killed and multiple people were injured. Early reports are that the town has been devastated by the tornado and that numerous structures are seriously damaged if not totally destroyed. A 19-unit mobile home park was destroyed. Winds were strong enough to tip over railroad cars and rip of the top of a grain elevator. Dozens of fire trucks and ambulances and literally hundreds of emergency responders were one the scene late last night. The town is without power and the lack of lights is preventing a thorough assessment of the tornado's level of destruction. The morning will shed light on just how destructive this tornado was and just how much assistance the people of Northwood are going to need cleaning up.
My heart goes out to the people of Northwood. Please feel free to use this thread to share your thoughts and stories of the tornado. Also, feel free to post requests for and offers of assistance here.
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My thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Northwood.
They are going to bounce back stronger than before.
Pictures of the storm in full swing in Grand Forks last night...
http://flickr.com/photos/benadamson/sets/72157601691905889/
My heart goes out to those affected by the storms yesterday. Please be sure to post any needs you may have, I'm sure there are people on this blog that are willing to help.
I drove through this storm last night. We were passing Thompson about ten minutes before the radio was reporting the tornado would hit Thompson. It was pretty intense.
What made it even more stressful is tuning into The Fan (which was broadcast on KJ108, XL93, and other stations during the storm), and the technical problems they were having. They'd go to a phone call, and a listener (like myself, or my girlfriend) couldn't hear a word any caller was saying. It'd just be like, "Hi, you're on The Fan." *a minute of silence* "Okay, so you just spotted the tornado there, huh? Thanks for calling." I was sitting in my car screaming at my radio. "WHAT?! WHERE WAS THE F---ING TORNADO SPOTTED?!"
I was glued to the National Weather Service website yesterday checking the updated reports and weather. And today I read the Herald news and looked at the photos of of the destruction in Northwood. I was shocked. And it was quite possible we could have had a tornado strike in Grand Forks, thankully that wasn't the case. I have a friend that lives in the Northwood area, I think she's doing OK, but my thoughts go out to her and the town of Northwood. I'd be open to help out if they need volunteers to help in the clean up and rebuilding.
Myself and several other UND atmospheric science graduate students went out storm chasing. Pictures of the storms and the Northwood tornado are included below. Considering we drove through Northwood about 10-20 min prior to the tornado, it was a rather sobering experience. The tornado was extremely hard to see due to it being rain-wrapped at nightfall.
http://people.aero.und.edu/~kennedya/2007/CHASE-082607/
Awesome photos. Thanks, guys, for sharing!
I think the National Weather Service in Grand Forks needs to be greatly recognized for what a tremendous job they did Sunday night. Sadly, one person died in the Northwood tornado, but I feel there could have been many more lives lost if it was not for the ample warning time the NWS provided.
First, the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for SW Grand Forks County not because a tornado was spotted, but because a meteorologist recognized possible tornadic activity on doppler radar.
Second, the warning was issued at 7:50 pm and stated the tornado would be near Northwood at 8:45 pm. The tornado hit Northwood at approximately 8:50 pm, that is one hour ahead of the warning. The public across the entire country has been skeptical about the National Weather Service in the past with very short warning times, but I think we can be proud of the amount of lead time the Grand Forks NWS gave on Sunday night's storm.
I was the lead forecaster working Sunday night and thank you for the nice words about the NWS. Weather is such an unpredictable thing, especially dealing with thunderstorms and tornado formations. Often times radar will show rotation but no funnel ever forms, and sometimes the opposite a small tornado forms and no rotation is present. Not an exact science. But the NWS personnel are professionals and try our very best and learn from missed events.
As the lead, I coordinatd with the Storm Prediction Center on the watches and where storms might fire, then we had radar operators whose job was to diagnose the storms. We had several supercells that evening...the two biggest being the one in Northern Walsh county and the other from Southeast Nelson into Grand Forks county. So it kept us hopping.
But, I do say we did feel a since of defeat when we learned about the fatality in Northwood. The NWS mission is to protect life and property and when a life is taken it sadens our heart. But I do hope that indeed we saved some lives that night.
Storm Prediction Center ? Did Weather Modification or Cloud Seeding Program have any influence on tornado in Northwood or cause it ? Just Curious Yellow.
Greenglass, why are you suddenly calling yourself "Yellow"???
One word: Chemtrails.
Who's with me?
Good to see that the blogs are following the tragedy in Northwood...
My restaurant staff and myself have been to Northwood once already and will be returning tomorrow night (Thursday). We were able to feed around 300 on Tuesday over lunch at one of the Red Cross locations. We are hoping to feed another 500-600 tomorrow night.
The strength that the town is showing is remarkable in the wake of such a horrible event. They are exhausted and the town is a mess, but you can still see light in the eyes there.
The Red Cross is doing a great job out there...by the way. They were very helpful (thanks Rose), and we only regret not being able to send more hot meals their way. Kudos to Alerus and Sanders for their help out there. More restaurants should be offering their aid.
See you out there...
Ed @ The Emerald Grill
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my husband and i went to northwood last weekend to help a neighbor hood with some clean up.. obviously its been several months since the tornado but you can still see how it left its mark on the town... god bless them
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