First winter storm drops 2 inches of snow, unwanted precip
By Anna Jauhola
After the first winter storm of the season rolled through the area, Kittson County is left with extra moisture it didn’t need and with nowhere for it to go.
According to the National Weather Service in Grand Forks, the storm dropped 2 inches of snow in the Hallock area. However, that snow was preceded by 1.25 inches of rainfall.
“It was a rather interesting event because the rain/snow line held back so far on the North Dakota side and finally got into Minnesota,” said Brad Hopkins, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Forks. “Then you got that mix because of the atmospheric conditions.”
Total for the event, Hopkins said the Hallock area recorded 1.99 inches of liquid precipitation.
At Lancaster, NWS recorded 2.4 inches of snow and 1.55 inches of liquid. Lake Bronson had 1.5 inches of snow and 1.8 inches of liquid precip.
The storm mostly stayed in North Dakota, dumping as much as 30 inches of snow in places.
“If you drew a box from Minot to Bismarck to maybe Valley City and up to the Canadian border, that was the main core of the heaviest snow,” Hopkins said. “Basically, between the Langdon and Rugby area were the heaviest snow amounts.”
The heaviest reported snowfall was 30 inches at Harvey, N.D. Locations in the northeast corner of North Dakota reported between 12 and 29 inches of snow. Areas around Cavalier reported 12, 20 and 21 inches of snow. Walhalla and Langdon each reported getting 27 inches of snow.
The Two Rivers rose again over the weekend and was predicted to crest on Tuesday, Oct. 15 at 808.5 feet above sea level, which is moderate flood stage.
The high water levels still aren’t going anywhere, Hopkins said, and the flows all depend on how quickly the snow melts and how long the Lake Bronson dam continues to release water.
With all this extra water, the NWS is predicting that the Red River of the North will continue to rise into moderate flood levels. The Drayton location shows a predicted river level of 38 feet on Oct. 20 and the Pembina location shows a predicted river level of 45.1 feet on the same date. Both locations are well into minor flood stages.
Hopkins did give some good news for the time being – there is no severe weather forecasted for the immediate future.
The Red River at the Drayton bridge taken last week during a sunny day prior to the latest snow and rainfall. (Enterprise Photos by Margie Holmgren)
