A strong atmospheric river will continue heavy rain over southern California through Friday. The heaviest rainfall is ongoing today in the Los Angeles Basin. Flash and urban flooding is possible. A prolonged heavy snowfall has begun over the Sierra Nevada Mountains and will continue through Friday. Travel will become increasingly difficult over the passes due to snow and strong winds. Read More >
Overview
A winter storm brought heavy snowfall and strong winds to much of North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota from Sunday, February 3rd into mid day Monday, February 4th. The snow and wind cause large snow drifts that made traveling difficult at times. Multiple schools across the region had late starts or completely closed for Monday due to the heavy snowfall, snow drifts, and low visibility from blowing snow out in the open country.
The heaviest snow fell across the northern half of North Dakota and into northwestern Minnesota with some locations along the North Dakota/Montana border receiving up to one foot of snowfall. Locally, over 9 inches were reported in a few locations across northwest Minnesota with a widespread 6 to 8 inches along and north of Highway 2. Areas to the south did not receive as much snow, but still got a decent coating of snow by the time the storm system moved out of the region.
Snow Reports From Across The Region
...SNOWFALL REPORTS AS OF 5:45 PM MONDAY FEBRUARY 4TH 2019... LOCATION AMOUNT REPORT TIME PROVIDER 2 N PETERSBURG 9.5 IN 0700 AM 02/04 COOP KARLSTAD 9.0 IN 0445 PM 02/04 PUBLIC HALLOCK 9.0 IN 0900 AM 02/04 COOP 1 N HOLT 9.0 IN 0714 AM 02/04 PUBLIC ARGYLE 8.2 IN 0938 AM 02/04 COOP OLGA 8.0 IN 0515 PM 02/04 PUBLIC LANGDON 8.0 IN 0515 PM 02/04 PUBLIC 3 N WHITMAN 8.0 IN 0100 PM 02/04 PUBLIC 1 SSW CROOKSTON 8.0 IN 0840 AM 02/04 PUBLIC 3 NNW DAVIDSON 8.0 IN 0750 AM 02/04 PUBLIC 6 SE PENN 7.5 IN 0700 AM 02/04 PUBLIC GRAND FORKS 7.2 IN 1200 PM 02/04 OFFICIAL NWS 1 SE GRAND FORKS 7.1 IN 0945 AM 02/04 PUBLIC 3 W LEROY 7.0 IN 0855 AM 02/04 PUBLIC 2 SE VESELEYVILLE 7.0 IN 0828 AM 02/04 PUBLIC 4 NE WASKISH 7.0 IN 0800 AM 02/04 COOP 3 SW FILLMORE 6.7 IN 0700 AM 02/04 PUBLIC AUDUBON 6.0 IN 1250 PM 02/04 PUBLIC 2 NW CORMORANT 6.0 IN 1120 AM 02/04 PUBLIC FOX 6.0 IN 1010 AM 02/04 PUBLIC SHARON 6.0 IN 0940 AM 02/04 PUBLIC WARREN 6.0 IN 0800 AM 02/04 PUBLIC HAVANA 6.0 IN 0713 AM 02/04 COOP LANCASTER 5.8 IN 0900 AM 02/04 COOP HENDRUM 5.0 IN 0857 AM 02/04 PUBLIC 1 S ROTHSAY 5.0 IN 0800 AM 02/04 PUBLIC DEVILS LAKE 5.0 IN 0714 AM 02/04 PUBLIC WEST FARGO 5.0 IN 0545 AM 02/04 PUBLIC ROTHSAY 4.5 IN 0130 AM 02/04 PUBLIC 1 N MOORHEAD 4.4 IN 0744 AM 02/04 COCORAHS KARLSTAD 4.3 IN 0715 AM 02/04 COCORAHS FARGO 4.2 IN 1205 AM 02/04 COOP SABIN 4.2 IN 1015 AM 02/04 COOP 1 NE PRAIRIE ROSE 4.2 IN 0600 AM 02/04 PUBLIC 3 E MCLEOD 4.1 IN 0800 AM 02/04 PUBLIC 1 SSE MOORHEAD 4.1 IN 0714 AM 02/04 PUBLIC 6 W TURTLE RIVER 4.0 IN 1130 AM 02/04 PUBLIC TWO INLETS 4.0 IN 0822 AM 02/04 PUBLIC MICHIGAN 4.0 IN 0732 AM 02/04 COOP NEW YORK MILLS 4.0 IN 0730 AM 02/04 COOP LIDGERWOOD 4.0 IN 0714 AM 02/04 COOP MICHIGAN 4.0 IN 0700 AM 02/04 COOP BEMIDJI 4.0 IN 0430 AM 02/04 PUBLIC MENAHGA 3.5 IN 0714 AM 02/04 PUBLIC 3 N OTTERTAIL 3.5 IN 0714 AM 02/04 PUBLIC LISBON 3.5 IN 0700 AM 02/04 COOP OTTERTAIL 3.5 IN 0430 AM 02/04 COOP SEBEKA 3.0 IN 0800 AM 02/04 COOP PARK RAPIDS 3.0 IN 0714 AM 02/04 PUBLIC LISBON 3.0 IN 0930 PM 02/03 COOP THIEF RIVER FALLS 3.0 IN 0915 PM 02/03 PUBLIC MAYVILLE 2.8 IN 0700 AM 02/04 PUBLIC 3 E BRECKENRIDGE 2.1 IN 0838 AM 02/04 TRAINED SPOTTER PELICAN RAPIDS 2.0 IN 0807 AM 02/04 PUBLIC 4 W BACKOO 2.0 IN 0930 PM 02/03 PUBLIC DETROIT LAKES 1.5 IN 0930 PM 02/03 PUBLIC OBSERVATIONS ARE COLLECTED FROM A VARIETY OF SOURCES WITH VARYING EQUIPMENT AND EXPOSURES. WE THANK ALL VOLUNTEER WEATHER OBSERVERS FOR THEIR DEDICATION. NOT ALL DATA LISTED ARE CONSIDERED OFFICIAL.
Photos
Images from across the region during and after the storm. Thanks to all those who sent us photos!
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| Deteriorating conditions outside of Cavalier, ND on the afternoon of the 3rd. (ND DOT) |
Low visibility near Devils Lake, ND due to strong winds and high snow rates on the afternoon of the 3rd. (ND DOT) |
Snow drifts developing on I-29 near Grand Forks that made travel difficult. (ND DOT) |
Fargo received their fair share of snow as well. (Courtesy of Lori Rohrich-Wertz) |
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| Nearly 7" of snow reported in Fox, MN (Courtesy of Aaron Lefor) |
Deep snow drifts were common against buildings and homes in and around Drayton, ND. (Courtesy of Briana Lembke) |
8" of snow reported just southeast of Roseau, MN. (Courtesy of Chase Voorhees) |
A snowy night with quite a lot of drifting snow in Cavalier, ND. (Courtesy of Stephanie Turner) |
Radar
Regional radar during the winter storm.
Radar loop from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on February 3rd
Radar loop from 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on February 3rd
Radar loop from 6:00 p.m. on February 3rd to 12:00 a.m. on February 4th
Environment
The storm system that produced the winter storm followed a fairly typical pattern for storms that bring heavy snowfall amounts to the region. In this case, upper level winds were flowing overall from southwest to northeast (as seen in Figure 1). This "southwesterly" flow pattern in the upper levels of the atmosphere allowed an upper level wave to propagate from the California coast over the Rocky mountains and into the north central Plains. (This wave can be seen in Figures 1, 2, and 3 as a wave-like feature moves from the bottom left to the top right.)
As this wave moved into the Plains two things occurred: The first was that pressure near the surface began to fall in the lee of the Rocky mountains (this can be seen in Figures 4 and 5). The second is that this region of falling pressure interacted with a strong temperature gradient in the mid levels of the atmosphere (Figure 4). South to southeasterly winds induced by the developing area of low pressure began to push warm air northwestward over the colder air in place over North Dakota (as seen in Figure 4) and generated a region of lift in the atmosphere.
This lift from the warm front was supplemented by strong synoptic scale lift cause by the approach of the upper level wave (purple lines in Figure 1). Where these two sources of lift overlapped is where some of the heaviest snow rates and snowfall totals were observed. One component of this storm that helped bring high snowfall amounts was the amount of moisture in the atmosphere. This can be seen by the green shading in Figures 3 and 6.
As the low near the surface strengthened and moved off to the east, northerly winds began pushing colder air from Canada down into the Plains (Figures 4 and 5) and cause areas of blowing and drifting snow as well as bitterly cold wind chills.
300mb Heights, Winds, and Divergence
500mb Heights, Winds, and Temperatures
700mb Heights, Winds, Temperatures, and RH
850mb Heights, Winds, Temperatures, and Dewpoints
Mean Sea-Level Pressure and Surface Winds
Dentritic Growth Zone Layer Relative Rumidity and Omega (lift)
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