The arctic blast from last week’s impact on the hard-red winter wheat crop in the southern plains is still somewhat unknown. Some think the snow may have offered some protection, which was probably the case for some, but many areas never really recorded that much snow. A couple of inches just isn’t enough protection and… Read more Winter Wheat
Tag: arctic
Positive Weather
Many parts of the region went 7 to 10 days with temperatures below zero. If we use the term at or below zero, meaning we will include a temperature of 0 in the analysis then Fargo and some other locations did get into the top 10 longest such streaks on record. But it is of… Read more Positive Weather
No Records
If you live in or near Fargo, the long-term average coldest it gets each winter is -28˚. The coldest we got this past cold snap was -25˚. Close enough to be near what we average at least once each winter. Other parts of the region, especially north and west of Fargo, got to or even… Read more No Records
Frost Depth
NDAWN, the North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network, not only monitors the weather, but also monitors soil conditions. The soil temperatures are probably used the most during the spring planting season, but the temperature data is also quite valuable this time of the year. NDAWN has approximately 50 stations with soil moisture probes that go down… Read more Frost Depth
Corn Syrup
The Arctic air masses, like the one currently over the region and will get reinforced in the coming days from a meteorological perspective are always fascinating to watch. I like to think of arctic air being so cold and in turn dense somewhat acting like corn syrup. It tends to move slowly with different locations… Read more Corn Syrup
Coldest So Far
In the past few days, the lowest temperatures measured from an NDAWN, North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network, station was -36 degrees at the Alamo, North Dakota station. The second lowest was -34 at the Fortuna, Portal and Adams stations. Although there is no denying those temperatures are extremely cold, the lack of a deeper snow… Read more Coldest So Far
The Cold Front Arrives
Here is a temperature trace of the thermometer in my backyard. Around midnight the cold front moved through and after a couple of days of steady temperatures in the 20s, the cold air moved in and temperatures as of 7:00 AM are around 9°. Below zero the next few days for low and over the… Read more The Cold Front Arrives
The Big Change
Yesterday temperatures reached 60˚ in parts of the NDAWN Mesonet. Today, temperatures are falling with temperatures at 3:30 PM in the single digits and teens in the northwestern part of the Mesonet. High temperatures look to be staying below zero across much of the region over the weekend, with low temperatures as cold as the… Read more The Big Change
Coldest So Far
Where it was clear this morning, temperatures dropped into the -20s and even a few spots hitting the magically -30° or colder level. This should be the coldest morning in the short term as warmer air will be moving into the area as we move closer to the weekend. The weekend still looks like some… Read more Coldest So Far
Negative-athon
At some point on Thursday, December 28 during the afternoon the temperature dropped below zero across most of the region. It wasn’t until yesterday morning that the temperature got back above zero in most area. That means from anywhere between 100 to 120 hours the temperature remained below zero. North Dakota is a large state,… Read more Negative-athon