Capt. Dave Mackaig looked at the thunderheads piling up outside his window Sunday afternoon and didn't want any part of it.

The radar in front of him showed a red patch of weather over Dickinson.

"Red is bad," Mackaig said, looking over his right shoulder from his pilot's seat. "We want to avoid red."

Co-pilot Jorge Carrera radioed the tower in Bismarck to set a new course. The autopilot banked the U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo plane sharply to the north and out of harm's way.

But on the ground, all anyone could do was accept what the skies brought.

In Grant County, that meant pea-size hail and a threat of tornadoes. The weather there looked bad enough on the radar that the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for the St. Gertrude area at 2 p.m. A thunderstorm moved across the county at 40 mph, but the Grant County Sheriff's Department said later in the day that no tornadoes had been spotted.

A tornado watch was in effect all afternoon for more than half of the counties in North Dakota, including Burleigh and Morton. Though less dire a pronouncement than a warning, a watch meant conditions were such that a tornado could be generated.

"We're getting reports of some funnel clouds that have been questionable," hydrologist Charlene Prindiville said. "It's trying to form a tornado."

A squall moved through Bismarck at about 2 p.m., but by 3:30 it was sunny. The rain clouds had moved northeast to McLean and Sheridan counties and then to points beyond.

Bismarck reported about half an inch of rain Sunday.

Other rainfall totals from the area:

Dickinson - .66 inches

Garrison - 2.9

Hettinger - 1.16

Jamestown - .98

Minot - 1.77

Williston - .48