National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Prolonged, Intense Heat Wave; Excessive Rainfall in the Southern Rockies; Severe Weather in the Central US

Extremely dangerous heat will persist from the Midwest to the East Coast into late this week. Monsoonal moisture may produce excessive rain and considerable flash flooding and debris flows, especially near recent burn scar areas in New Mexico and west Texas. Severe storms are possible from the southern/central Plains into the Great Lakes and Northeast, and the northern/central Plains today. Read More >

Overview

From the late afternoon of January 13 through January 14, 2021, a powerful low pressure system brought very strong winds to western and central North Dakota. The strongest observed wind gust was 93 mph at the Williston Basin Airport. There were many reports of property and tree damage, along with a few power outages. This event will go down as one of the worst non-thunderstorm wind events in recent memory.

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Highest wind gusts observed as of 1 PM CST on Thursday, January 14th. Colors are interpolated between observations.