A Terrifying, Deadly Storm Struck North Dakota In 2006 And No One Saw It Coming
As these late summer storms start rolling in to North Dakota, we sometimes remember storms of the past. Tornadoes are no stranger to those of us who have lived here for a while, and certainly not if you lived in the central region of the state during 2006. It was on August 24 of that year that North Dakota was part of a three-state-wide tornado outbreak, and it was terrifying.
This storm struck about midday, beginning in North Dakota and spanning across South Dakota and Minnesota as time went on.
Noon central time was when the first tornadoes started spawning in North Dakota. There were 14 tornadoes during this outbreak in total, three of which were in this state in or near the towns of Hebron, Steele, and Underwood.
North Dakota experienced two F0 and one F2 tornadoes within the span of a few hours.
These tornadoes luckily weren't the strongest during this outbreak, but two of them still did quite a bit of damage. The Steele tornado remained over open country and did not hit any buildings.
The strongest tornadoes of this outbreak were F3's, and one of them ended up causing a fatality.
This huge tornado shown above that spawned from the North Dakota storms hit Minnesota and killed one person, making it deadly. There was a South Dakota tornado from this outbreak that had a path of nearly 25 miles.
There was tons of damage as a result of this storm.
Damage in North Dakota included destroyed garages and outbuildings, the entire roof of a farmhouse being ripped off, downed power lines, and a lot of scattered debris. It certainly was an unforgettable day for many people.
Do you remember this storm? It’s hard to believe that this was over a decade ago. These haven’t been the only notable tornadoes in the state, here is another scary storm in North Dakota that actually helped create the scale we classify all tornadoes today, including the ones we just mentioned.
OnlyInYourState may earn compensation through affiliate links in this article.
North Dakota In Your Inbox
Thank you! You'll receive your first newsletter soon!
Leah moved to North Dakota when she was 12 years old and has traveled from the Red River Valley to the badlands and many places in between. She loves small-town life and currently enjoys living on a small farm in the ND prairie. She's always had a passion for writing and has participated in novel writing challenges such as NaNoWriMo multiple times. Her favorite part about this job is recognizing small businesses that deserve a boost and seeing the positive affect her articles can have on their traffic, especially in rural areas that might have otherwise gone overlooked.
