A winter that just won’t end
By Tina Foreman
Farmer Staff Writer
Spring blizzards are not uncommon in North Dakota, something Mother Nature reminded us of during the first week of spring.
Last week’s blizzard brought McKenzie County to a halt for the second time this month. High winds, heavy snowfall and ice caused many cancellations, including a snow day for area schools.
“The visibility with this storm wasn’t as bad as the previous one, however, the roads were terrible,” say Ron Rankin, McKenzie County sheriff.
Although the roads were bad, according to Rankin, the number of accidents and stranded vehicles was nothing compared to the last storm.
“There were cars in the ditch and a few accidents, but nothing compared to the last storm like this,” states Rankin. “There was a lot less traffic out on the roads this time. I think a lot of people learned something from the last storm and took the warning seriously this time, which made things much easier for law enforcement.”
In addition to making roads miserable, the storm had people out shoveling again. According to the National Weather Service, Watford City received nine and a half inches of snow on March 23, 2011.
“So far this season we are at 98.1 inches of snow,” stated Dick Fischer of Watford City.
The average season snowfall for Watford City over the past 20 years is 48 inches, a number Watford City surpassed in December.
“We’ve had a lot of snow and unfortunately, it is still coming down,” adds Fischer. “And there is still plenty of time left in the season for another big blizzard which could easily bring us to over 100 inches of snow for the season.”