Report Severe Weather, NWS WFO Grand Forks, ND

*NOTICE:* Information provided on this form may be used by the National Weather Service (NWS) for official purposes in any way, including public release and publication in NWS products. False statements on this form may be subject to prosecution under the False Statement Accountability Act of 1997 (18 U.S.C. § 1001) or other statutes.

Severe Weather Title

If severe weather is occuring at the moment, please contact your local police department as soon as it is safe to do so and have them relay it to the National Weather Service in Grand Forks.

If you have experienced severe weather recently, or have had damage as a result of a storm...please tell us about it. The National Weather Service's criteria for determining if a thunderstorm is severe is if one or more of the following are occuring.

	hail 1 inch or larger
	58 mph (50 knots) or greater wind gusts
	trees, tree limbs and powerlines down
	damage to stuctures due to the storms
	a tornado

Other events, although not severe, are also important to us and can be very helpful.

	funnel or wall cloud
	flooding
	hail any size
	3 inches or more of snowfall
	icejams on rivers or streams

When reporting hail, and to avoid any misunderstandings, please use the table below as a reference...

SIZE	INCHES
pea	1/4
marble	1/2
dime	3/4
nickel	7/8
quarter	1
half-dollar	1 1/4
ping-pong ball	1 1/2
golf ball	1 3/4
tennis ball	2 1/2
baseball	2 3/4
grapefruit	4
softball	4 1/2

...and for wind reporting, here is the Beaufort Scale to help estimate the wind speeds.

Wind Speed (mph)	Designation	Description
1	calm	smoke rises vertically, trees do not move
1-3	light air	smoke drift indicates wind direction
4-7	light breeze	weather vane moves, leaves rustle
8-12	light breeze	leaves and twigs in constant motion
13-18	moderate breeze	dust and loose paper raised, small branches move
19-24	fresh breeze	small trees sway
25-31	strong breeze	large branches move, wind whistles wires
32-38	moderate gale	whole trees move, walking affected
39-46	fresh gale	twigs break off trees, walking difficult
47-54	strong gale	slight structural damage occurs, branches break
55-63	whole gale	trees uprooted, considerable structural damage
64-74	storm	widespread damage
75+	hurricane	severe and extensive damage

Only submit reports for events which occurred within our county warning area (eastern North Dakota,west central and northwest Minnesota).

Please provide us with the following information:

The date and time of the event

The location of the event (including the county, city/town, and street if possible)

Your name

Your phone number (this will be helpful in case we need to contact you to verify the report or obtain additional information)

A complete description of the event

Note: Providing this information is voluntary.

General Information

Date of the event:

Time of the event:

County City/Town:

Name:

Phone number:

The Event

Type of severe weather event:

If event was hail, select the size:

If event was wind gust, select nearest speed:

In this box, please list any other pertinent information concerning the severe weather (or other weather event). For damage, please list what was damaged. For trees and limbs, please give the size in diameter. For a tornado, please send us your best estimate on the time and location, how long it was on the ground, and approximate width if possible.

Please be as detailed and specific as possible

Severe Weather Page

National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office