Turtle Lake Tornado

Saturday, July 28, 2012

 

A large storm traveled through west-central North Dakota on this date in 1996, producing a tornado near Turtle Lake and causing extensive hail damage. The tornado was relatively small, only about three yards wide and extending over a twenty-mile path. An F1 on the Fujita scale, it caused $70,000 in damage, despite occurring in a relatively isolated rural area. The surrounding hail storm dropped one- to two-inch hailstones across several counties. The largest hailstone was reported a couple miles south of New Rockford, with a diameter of four and half inches! Amateur photographers captured the Turtle Lake tornado in a series of incredibly clear photographs from its earliest development to its final dissipation.

 

Dakota Datebook written by Jayme Job

 

Sources:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/bis/ndtornadoes.php

http://www.bigskyhazards.com/products/NorthDakota/5-9-SummerStorm.pdf

http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/19960728.38.16/map

http://burleighco.com/uploads/resources/53/2009-mhmp.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujita_scale

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/bis/North_Dakota_County_Statistics_a.pdf