The first blizzard of the season left behind a significant mark in the northern Plains as it unleashed fierce winds, heavy snow and ice that led to treacherous conditions along the region’s main travel routes Wednesday night into Friday.
AccuWeather meteorologists predicted the snowstorm days in advance, highlighting the risk for travel to turn difficult and dangerous quickly as the heaviest snow was expected to pummel the Interstate 94 corridor in North Dakota.
As forecast, the heavy snow, combined with gusty winds, led to dangerous driving conditions with whiteout conditions at times, resulting in the North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT) posting “no travel” advisories along a portion of the highway on Thursday.
In total, 1-2 feet of snow were observed across much of the state, with amounts toward the high end of this range near the state capital of Bismarck. Prior to this storm, the city’s highest single-day snowfall in November was 10.8 inches set on Nov. 24, 1993. On Thursday alone, Bismarck recorded 17 inches of snow, shattering the prior record. The city’s monthly average is 8 inches.
At one point during the storm, blizzard warnings were in effect for a number of counties across north-central South Dakota, central and eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota, with strong wind gusts over 40 mph hampering visibility for much of the storm’s duration. A blizzard is defined as a snowstorm with one-quarter-mile visibility or less with winds of 35 mph or greater for three consecutive hours.
