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March 9-10 Blizzard in North Dakota

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Source/Author: NWS - Grand Forks, ND 03/11/09

Blizzard and Winter Storm Details March 9-10

The blizzard that struck the region yesterday is winding down, and conditions will improve today.  It will be bitterly cold though with dangerous wind chills from 25 to 40 below for all of eastern North Dakota and west Central Minnesota through noon.  Plentiful sunshine and decreasing winds will make it feel a bit better this afternoon, although the mercury will hover near zero for most areas.  A warming trend is on the horizon though for later this week into the weekend, and the mercury is expected to climb above freezing.  These warmer temperatures that are expected into next week will likely begin to melt the current snowpack.

Below is a summary of the snow totals from March 9-10 along with peak wind gusts. 

HEAVY SNOW REPORTS

LOCATION                  SNOW FALL     TIME/DATE
                           (INCHES)   OF OBSERVATION    LAT    LON
MINNESOTA

...BELTRAMI COUNTY...
  WASKISH                      7.0 E   955 AM 03/10   48.16N  94.51W
  THORHULT                    12.0 E   508 PM 03/10   48.23N  95.25W

SNOW REPORTS

LOCATION                  SNOW FALL     TIME/DATE
                           (INCHES)   OF OBSERVATION    LAT    LON
MINNESOTA

...BECKER COUNTY...
  DETROIT LAKES                5.0 E   330 PM 03/10   46.81N  95.84W

...BELTRAMI COUNTY...
  BEMIDJI                      5.5 E   940 AM 03/10   47.48N  94.88W
  5 NE BEMIDJI                10.0 E   800 PM 03/10   47.53N  94.80W
  BEMIDJI                     12.0 E   800 PM 03/10   47.48N  94.88W

...CLAY COUNTY...
  MOORHEAD                    10.1 M  1045 PM 03/10   46.86N  96.76W

...LAKE OF THE WOODS COUNTY...
  BAUDETTE                     6.0 E   220 PM 03/10   48.71N  94.59W

...MARSHALL COUNTY...
  VIKING                       2.0 E   950 AM 03/10   48.22N  96.41W

...NORMAN COUNTY...
  TWIN VALLEY                  3.6 E  1145 AM 03/10   47.26N  96.26W

...OTTER TAIL COUNTY...
  PELICAN RAPIDS               3.0 E   305 PM 03/10   46.57N  96.09W
  OTTERTAIL                    4.0 E   332 PM 03/10   46.43N  95.56W
  NEW YORK MILLS               5.0 E   310 PM 03/10   46.52N  95.37W

...RED LAKE COUNTY...
  RED LAKE FALLS              13.5 E   835 PM 03/10   47.89N  96.27W

LOCATION                  SNOW FALL     TIME/DATE
                           (INCHES)   OF OBSERVATION    LAT    LON
NORTH DAKOTA

...BARNES COUNTY...
  VALLEY CITY                 10.0 E   700 PM 03/10   46.92N  98.01W

...GRAND FORKS COUNTY...
  GRAND FORKS                  5.0 M   700 PM 03/10   47.92N  97.07W

...TRAILL COUNTY...
  3 E MAYVILLE                 9.0 E   800 PM 03/10   47.50N  97.26W

 

Below is a graphical representation of the total snow from March 9-10. 

totalsnow

 

Below is the radar representation of snowfall during the blizzard. The heaviest snow band fell from Valley City to Fargo to Bemidji where 6 to 10 inches fell.

radarsnow


...PEAK WINDS FOR MARCH 10 BLIZZARD...

WINDS GUSTED OVER 50 MPH AT TIMES IN THE RED RIVER VALLEY ON TUESDAY
AS BLIZZARD CONDITIONS PERSISTED FOR NEARLY 14 HOURS IN THE
SOUTHERN RED RIVER VALLEY AROUND FARGO...AND ABOUT 12 HOURS NEAR
GRAND FORKS. ALL MAJOR HIGHWAYS IN THE REGION WERE CLOSED AND MANY
ROADS BECAME DRIFTED SHUT AS PLOWS WERE PULLED FROM ZERO
VISIBILITY AT TIMES IN THE RED RIVER VALLEY.

HERE ARE SOME PRELIMINARY WIND GUSTS FROM AREA AUTOMATED SURFACE
OBSERVING SYSTEMS (ASOS). THIS LIST WILL BE ADDED TO ONCE MORE
DATA BECOMES AVAILABLE TODAY.


LOCATIONPEAK WIND (MPH)

FERGUS FALLS                          51
GRAND FORKS                           48
FARGO                                 48
CROOKSTON                             48
WAHPETON                              46
HALLOCK                               45
DETROIT LAKES                         45
THEIF RIVER FALLS                     40

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