Month: March 2019

The vernal equinox is just two days away. The term equinox means equal, so it is this time of year that we tend to have 12 hours of both daylight and nighttime. Because sunrises and sunsets are based on when the edge of the sun becomes visible or disappears, we have more than 12 hours… Read more Vernal Equinox

Today marks the anniversary to one of the most powerful blizzards to hit this area.  That storm that occurred on March 15, 1941.  A powerful Alberta Clipper turned a fairly nice Saturday, into a deadly Saturday night.  A light south wind quickly changed to the north and gusted as high as 85 mph.  Travelers were… Read more Ides of March

With concerns for the spring flooding potential, the recent snows in combination with what fell during the second half of the winter puts the concerns the highest they have been since 2013.  This past winter was the 5th wettest in North Dakota taken as a whole.  Most locations finished the winter 1 to 1.5 inches… Read more Wet

Yesterday in this space I mentioned that last month was ranked as the 2nd coldest February since 1891 in North Dakota taken as a whole.  Although February was extremely cold, the winter taken as a whole was not.  The National Center for Environmental Information ranked the winter of 2018-19 as the 52nd coldest on record… Read more Winter 2018-2019

The National Center for Environmental Information, which use to be called the National Climate Data Center ranked February 2019 as the second coldest on record in North Dakota.   Their records go back to 1891, so that ranking does not include the 1880s when we did have some colder Februaries.  The only February that was colder… Read more February

March is the month when the first 50 degree high of the season often occurs.  Most of you have experienced both the earliest 50 degree day of the season when the high hit 55 degrees on January 5 2012 and the latest 50 degree day when the first 50 of the year did not occur… Read more First 50

Yesterday in this blog I talked about having a maximum high temperature below zero in March is quite unusual.  Having a minimum below zero in March on the other hand is quite common.  The average last below zero reading of the cold season is March 10 in Fargo and usually in early to mid-March around… Read more Negative Minimums in March

Sunday afternoon the high temperatures at Hector Int’l was -1 degree.  That was just the 13th below zero day during the month of March in Fargo since records started in 1881.  Oddly, 3 of those days have been in the past decade with negative highs occurring in early March in 2009 and 2014 as well. … Read more Negative March