Winter Weather Hits North Dakota with a Vengeance

Welcome to winter, North Dakotans. Our first taste of snowfall this winter came with a nasty blizzard that dropped a foot or more of snow over most of the state.

North Dakota Blizzard - Wednesday, November 5

Wednesday was a really nice day with temperatures in the high 50s in Harvey, North Dakota. But by Wednesday evening, it was pouring rain outside. The church parking lot was flooded when I dropped my children off at Awanas at 7 p.m. Rainfall was estimated to be a couple of inches, at least. Temperatures dipped down into the mid-30s as the sun went down over North Dakota.

North Dakota Blizzard - Thursday, November 6

By Thursday morning, we had a blanket of snow covering our lawn. Driving my children to school was interesting, as the rainfall from Wednesday night had turned into first sleet, then snow, making streets very icy.

Once I got to my office, I learned that a semi had jack-knifed on Highway 52 which runs right outside of Harvey. Several other cars ended up in the ditch that morning as well.

When I went to lunch, I trudged through a good 4 inches of snow to my house. Schools closed at 1:50 p.m. due to visibility issues. North Dakota is traditionally very windy, and all the snow we had recently accumulated was blowing around, making it impossible to see.

At 5 p.m. when I left work, I had to shovel my driveway to get my van out of the garage. It was already dark outside and almost impossible to navigate the streets as I drove to pick up my kids from daycare. Still, the temperature wasn't bad at all as my van showed 32 degrees.

Since we were expecting a lot more snow, we made a trip to the grocery store. By the time we got home again, an hour later, I had to shovel my driveway again to get my van back into the garage. My boss called to let me know she had gotten stuck on the main street of Harvey, even with her four-wheel drive Chevy Tahoe. She offered to pick up my son for school Friday, knowing I would probably be snowed in.

North Dakota Blizzard - Friday, November 7

We woke up to huge snow drifts, some measuring four feet deep, according to local television channels in Minot and Bismarck. I couldn't get my front door open due to a snow drift at least two feet deep. A Harvey City employee revealed we received around 8 or 9 inches of snow.

Harvey's local radio station reported there was no school in Maddock, a neighboring town, but that Harvey schools opened at 10 a.m. School bus service was cancelled, giving country kids the day off.

Cancellations today included the senior citizen bus service and their center was closed for meals today. Harvey City Post Office reported they had no mail delivery to their center this morning, as many roads were unpassable. I was supposed to have parent-teacher conferences this morning at my daughter's HeadStart, but a phone call to the center revealed the administrator was unable to get out of her yard, so conferences were cancelled.

The local radio announcer urged people stay home today as the Harvey City street employees were struggling to clean up the massive amounts of snow clogging the streets. My boss was late picking up my son this morning because she got stuck (again) with her four-wheel drive Tahoe and her son had to push her out with his pickup.

Luckily my office is closed Fridays, so my daughter and I didn't have to leave the house.

My sister reported there was a downed tree in Harvey due to the heavy snow and wind of the blizzard.

My sister's husband, Jeff, got stuck at a local gas station after filling up his gas tank. Jeff was supposed to go to work today in Enderlin, North Dakota, a town 173 miles away, but he got as far as Fessenden (17 miles away) before turning around due to icy roads.

There were road closures all over North Dakota, including Interstate 94 from New Salem to the Montana border. Currently, the North Dakota Department of Transportation website is down due to so many people checking road conditions. The current temperature is still not bad at 25 degrees.

North Dakota Blizzard in 1976

This blizzard happened before I was born, but my mother often recalls her first winter in North Dakota. Mom and Dad lived on a farm seven miles outside of Fessenden, North Dakota, and they experienced snow drifts that completely obscured the doors of their farmhouse. She reminisced about how she and Dad suffered without power, surviving on canned food and living in the basement next to the wood-burning stove. My grandfather was finally able to get to the farm to dig them out, 10 days later.

North Dakota Blizzard in 1997

The last major blizzard I can remember happened in 1997. I was a sophomore in college and we got so much snow, the governor of North Dakota cancelled schools statewide, including universities. A handful of us were stranded on campus, and I recall walking through snow drifts hip-deep to get to the student union for food.

North Dakota Blizzard in 2000

I've lived in North Dakota almost all my life, except 2 1/2 years spent in Las Vegas. When my ex-husband and I moved back to North Dakota from Nevada, we were met with a blizzard as soon as we crossed the border from Montana into North Dakota. The North Dakota Department of Transportation closed Interstate 94 while we were traveling on it, creeping along at 25 miles per hour. We were lucky enough to find a hotel room in Beach, North Dakota, and stayed the night until snow plows were able to clear the highways.

We didn't get very much snow during that blizzard, but roads were very slippery and dangerous to travel. As a Las Vegas native, it was my ex-husband's first introduction to snow of any sort!

Typical North Dakota Winter Weather

Contrary to popular belief, blizzards are not the norm for North Dakota, although the time-frame is right. Normally we get an inch or two of snow toward the end of October / early November, making Halloween interesting as we layered snow pants and winter jackets under our costumes. But this is the first time I can recall in 11 years that North Dakota has gotten this much snow all at once.