TL;DR
Four tornadoes touched down across rural North Dakota Thursday night between 9:04 PM and 11:06 PM CDT, all confirmed by photos and eyewitness reports. The tornadoes occurred near Wolford, Knox, Maddock, and Bremen in the north-central part of the state. All four appear to have been landspouts—short-lived tornadoes that form along boundaries without a classic supercell structure. No injuries or significant damage have been reported.
What happened Thursday night
Between 0104 UTC and 0306 UTC Friday (9:04 PM to 11:06 PM CDT Thursday), the National Weather Service confirmed four separate tornadoes in North Dakota based on photos relayed via social media and broadcast media, along with multiple eyewitness reports.
The first tornado was reported at 9:04 PM CDT six miles south of Wolford in Pierce County. The NWS office in Bismarck noted the tornado as a landspout, characterized by a thin funnel visible in multiple photos shared on social media.
Five minutes later at 9:09 PM, a second thin tornado was reported one mile northwest of Knox in Benson County. Multiple witnesses observed the tornado in an open field, according to the NWS office in Grand Forks.
The third tornado touched down at 10:10 PM CDT four miles west of Maddock in Benson County. The Grand Forks NWS office confirmed the tornado was in progress 3.5 miles west of Maddock based on real-time reports.
The final tornado of the evening occurred at 11:06 PM CDT eight miles south-southeast of Bremen in Wells County. Photos of this tornado were relayed through broadcast media to the Bismarck NWS office.
The landspout signature
All four tornadoes Thursday night appear to fit the profile of landspout tornadoes—a term meteorologists use for tornadoes that form along boundaries such as outflow edges or fronts, often beneath developing cumulus clouds, rather than from the rotating mesocyclone of a classic supercell.
Landspouts are typically weaker and shorter-lived than supercellular tornadoes. They often appear as thin, rope-like funnels and tend to occur in environments with strong low-level wind shear but weaker mid-level rotation. The NWS explicitly labeled the Wolford tornado a landspout in its storm report.
These tornadoes are common across the northern Plains during the summer months when afternoon heating destabilizes the atmosphere and scattered thunderstorms develop along subtle boundaries. While landspouts are generally less destructive than their supercell-spawned counterparts, they can still produce localized damage and pose a threat to anyone caught outdoors.
No damage reported
As of Friday morning, no injuries or significant structural damage have been reported from any of the four tornadoes. All occurred in rural areas of north-central North Dakota, a sparsely populated region where tornadoes can touch down in open fields without encountering homes or infrastructure.
The lack of damage reports does not mean these tornadoes were insignificant. Each was visually confirmed, and the Maddock tornado was reported as "in progress" by spotters on the ground—a reminder that even brief tornadoes in open country represent a real threat to anyone in their path.
Thursday's severe weather context
North Dakota was not alone in experiencing severe weather Thursday. Nationwide, the NWS logged 4 tornado reports, 15 hail reports, and 131 wind reports across multiple states including North Dakota.
The wind reports dominated the severe weather tally, with widespread damaging gusts reported across the nation. North Dakota's four tornadoes represented the only tornado activity in the nation during the 24-hour period ending Friday morning.
Why North Dakota sees summer tornadoes
The state averages around 4 tornadoes per year, with the majority occurring between June and August.
Summer tornadoes in North Dakota are often tied to weak disturbances moving through the northern Plains, where afternoon heating and moisture from the south create just enough instability for thunderstorms to develop. When these storms interact with boundaries—outflow from earlier storms, fronts, or even terrain features—landspout tornadoes can spin up quickly.
Thursday's tornadoes fit this pattern. Scattered thunderstorms developed across the region during the evening hours, and the tornadoes formed along the edges of these storms as they moved across the open prairie.
What's next
Friday's outlook from the NOAA Storm Prediction Center includes a Marginal Risk for severe thunderstorms across portions of the northern Rockies, Upper Great Lakes, and Ohio Valley into the Southeast. The northern Plains, including North Dakota, are not highlighted in Friday's severe weather outlook.
The weekend forecast shows a Slight Risk developing across parts of the Ohio Valley and Southeast on Saturday and Sunday, but no organized severe weather threat is expected to return to the northern Plains in the near term.
Staying alert in landspout season
Landspout tornadoes are notoriously difficult to predict with long lead times. Unlike supercell tornadoes, which often develop within well-defined severe thunderstorm warnings, landspouts can form rapidly beneath storms that may not initially appear severe on radar.
If you live in an area where landspouts are common—especially the High Plains and Rockies during summer—monitor the sky when thunderstorms are nearby. A rapidly rotating cloud base, a lowering wall cloud, or a visible funnel are all signs to take shelter immediately, even if no tornado warning has been issued.
For those in rural areas, outdoor sirens may not be audible indoors or in the field. A NOAA Weather Radio or a smartphone weather app with location-based alerts can provide critical warnings. Third-party weather apps are silenced by Do Not Disturb, though Wireless Emergency Alerts for tornado warnings still break through on most phones.
VORTEX is a free web app at vortexintel.app that monitors severe weather nationwide. Pro ($4.99/month) places phone calls to your phone when a tornado or flash flood warning is issued for a location you care about — calls can ring through Do Not Disturb once you enable Emergency Bypass for the number, unlike most third-party app notifications.