As we were in the middle of the cold snap a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned in that a warmup is coming, but it looked like another push of Arctic Air toward the end of the month. Albeit, not as cold as what we were experiencing at the time. This colder air this weekend… Read more A Swing and a Miss
Month: February 2021
Patience
This time of year, of course thoughts move to spring and hoping it will be an early one. That rarely occurs in our climate. The snow that many areas got Tuesday, although not much of a storm in most locations by our standards, was a reminder that it is still winter. Our average high doesn’t… Read more Patience
Winter Wheat
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
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
Texas Cold
What is happening in the southern plains, especially Texas, has been getting a lot of attention, as it should. It is cold and snow that region rarely experiences, but the key word there was rarely, it is not unprecedented. Depending on the exact area, similar weather was experienced 1989, 1983 and especially back in 1899. … Read more Texas Cold
Remembering 2019
If you’re wondering when was the last time it was this cold in February, it was just two years ago. February 2019 was the coldest second month of the year since 1979 and the 11th coldest all time in Fargo, but was ranked as the 2nd coldest February for all of North Dakota. The only… Read more Remembering 2019
Valentine Minimums
The two graphics below are the minimums this morning across the NDAWN Mesonet. Also included are the minimums at the wise roads project stations, some of which are not on the main website yet. still cold but warmer in the coming days and a few days near or above average next weekend. Daryl Ritchison
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
Annoying Not Historic
This cold snap, albeit annoying for most people, isn’t all that unusual for our climate. We would have to go two full weeks of double digits below zero lows for example just to get into the 10 ten longest such streak on record. We would have to go 37 straight days of 0 or below… Read more Annoying Not Historic