We can't buy a drop of rain in Bismarck Mandan.  Okay, we've had a few sprinkles over the last couple of weeks but that's about it.  Some haven't seen a drop as sandburs begin to take over lawns. That would be my case living south of Lincoln, North Dakota. It's been a long time since we've seen any rain. The lawn is getting very crunchy. So just how dry is it in Bismarck Mandan? According to the National Weather Service in Bismarck, since January 1st we've only 6.09 inches of precipitation in Bismarck. Normal for this time of year 12.24. So we are 6.15 inches below normal in Bismarck Mandan. This is a BIG difference from last Summer. It seemed like we had daily thunderstorms last July and August and we were at 14.68 inches of precipitation this time last year. What a difference a year makes. Yeah, it's really dry!

However, it's a completely different world from Jamestown to Devils Lake and all points east.  Eastern North Dakota continues to get slammed with heavy rain week after week.  Maybe we should start pumping Red River water to the west?   Anyway, a series of tornatic storms erupted over eastern North Dakota about lunch time on Sunday, August 9th, and they produced several tornadoes and funnel clouds.  Here's some pretty cool tornado videos captured.  This one was in Barnes county. About 5 miles south of Oriska, North Dakota.

 

Here's another tornado video that was shot southeast of Valley City about 2 pm yesterday afternoon.

This tornado was spotted near Tower City in Barnes County.

Another tornado was confirmed near Ashley, North Dakota. Several other funnel clouds were reported across the eastern part of the state.

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