Power Outage in Minot, ND

Over 20 locations lost power as a result of frost accumulating on power lines due to the multi-day dense fog event. Multiple lines were downed as conductors broke, or snapped.

Strong winds and heavy snow combined to produce a blizzard. In addition, periods of freezing rain occurred which accreted on power lines. This, combined with strong winds, led to extensive damage to power lines, cross arms, and poles, and thus widespread power outages.

Minot ASOS reported wind gusts to 78 mph. In Minot, an apartment building roof was severely damaged along with fences. Trees were also damaged or blown over throughout the city, which caused damage to power lines and blocked streets. Electrical power outages occurred in many parts of the city. In Surrey, a playset was blown over.

Multiple power lines were reported down in northwest Minot from the severe winds.

A wintry mix of freezing rain, sleet, and snow spread north across the local area. Precipitation eventually changed over to all snow, with up to six inches of accumulations reported by early Saturday morning. Hazardous travel conditions and scattered power outages resulted.

Numerous trees and power lines down.

Multiple days of dense fog combined with below freezing temperatures led to heavy frost and ice forming on power lines over northwest into parts of north central North Dakota. The greatest damage occurred over the far northwest where nearly 60 power poles were broken, with additional poles broken over parts of north central North Dakota. Multiple lines and cross-arms were also damaged or broken. At least 500 customers suffered power losses, some for multiple days. Over southwest North Dakota in Stark County, near zero visibility due to dense fog led to one indirect death. According to the North Dakota Highway Patrol, a semi-truck jackknifed while traveling along Interstate 94 during the very early morning hours of January 16, with the trailer blocking the westbound passing lane. A 50 year old female from Dickinson, also traveling westbound, died (indirect) when she hit the trailer on the left-rear side and went under it.

A strong Colorado low lifted through North Dakota. Initially, a wintry mix of rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow developed over western and central North Dakota. As temperatures dropped over the northwest and far north central, ice accumulated on power lines. Strong winds developed, with precipitation eventually changing over to all snow. The strong winds combined with the ice on the power lines leading to thousands of power poles and cross arms breaking, resulting in widespread power outages throughout the northwest into the far north central. On the evening of April 24, almost all of the northwest part of the state was without power. Some residential services in rural areas took over three weeks to have power restored, and some non-residential services were not restored until mid-June. As the snow combined with the strong winds, visibility dropped to zero across western and parts of central North Dakota. Interstate 94 closed from the Montana state line to Mandan, and most other roads were impassable. Due to the after-effects of the blizzard and power outages, the American Red Cross opened warming shelters in Crosby and Williston, and provided showers and meals to many individuals. Snowfall totals of over a foot and a half were reported, though were tough to measure with wind gusts over 70 mph. As of the writing of this episode, power companies and government officials were still in the process of calculating financial losses. With that said, expectations are that at a minimum, the financial impact from this storm was at least 60 million dollars. It should be understood that this value, and the individual county event entries, are rough estimates.

A powerful late spring storm system swept across the Northern Plains region April 29th through May 1st. Impacts were most significant over west central and northwest North Dakota. See April Storm Data for additional details.

A powerful and complex winter storm made a direct hit on North Dakota from late in the afternoon on February 8th, through early in the morning on the 11th. Winter Storm and Ice Storm warnings were issued in advance of this storm system as it developed across the southwest part of the nation. As the storm ejected into the plains on Sunday, the first wave of precipitation quickly overspread west and central North Dakota during the evening. Fortunately, warm and moist air preceding this system, coinciding with surface temperatures above freezing, resulted in most of the precipitation falling as rain with much less ice accumulation than expected.||As the storm continued to move northeast on Monday, colder air was pulled south into North Dakota resulting in the second wave of precipitation from the 9th through early on the 11th to fall as all snow. A stationary north to south oriented band of moderate to heavy snow developed across western North Dakota Monday night, and persisted into the day on Tuesday, before gradually shifting eastward Tuesday night. This band of heavy snow remained just to the west of Bismarck and Minot, sparing these areas of the heavier snow amounts which ranged from 8 to 20 inches over western parts of the state.||The heavy snow closed several area highways including Interstate 94 from Dickinson to Mandan Tuesday night, and also resulted in county officials issuing numerous no travel advisories over the west.

October 5, 2005, brought an early and very significant blizzard to the Northern Plains including western and northern North Dakota. A large band of 15 plus inches of snow fell from the southwest into the north central including from Bowman, through Amidon, New England, Medora, Dickinson, Halliday, Grassy Butte, Garrison, Max, Tioga, Berthold and Minot, to Towner. The heaviest snow was at Dunn Center, Manning, Marshall and Bowbells all with 22 inches, Beach with 20 inches, and Fairfield, Hebron, and Richardton all with 18 inches. Visibility dropped to zero for an extended period of time at Dickinson and Minot and to less than a quarter mile at Hettinger and Williston in snow and blowing snow. Winds gusted to 48 mph at Minot, 45 mph at Hettinger, 40 mph at Williston, and 35 mph at Dickinson. Heavy wet snow pulled down trees and power lines, halted transportation, and disrupted the lives of thousands. In many areas you needed a yardstick to measure the snow. Power outages were reported in Bottineau, Bowman, Burke, Dunn, Golden Valley, McHenry, McKenzie, McLean, Mercer, Oliver, Rolette, Sheridan, and Ward counties. Transportation came to a standstill as the storm forced the closure of major highways. Interstate 94 was closed from Mandan to the Montana line, a distance of 155 miles. Other major highways including 83, 52, 5, and 2 were made impassable and were shut down. The county sheriff in no fewer than 28 counties advised no travel as drifts were reported as deep as four feet. Snow plow operators were ordered off the roads as concern for their safety grew. National Guard soldiers were called out to rescue stranded motorists. Hundreds of motorists and occupants of three buses were rescued. Over a 23 mile stretch of Interstate 94, from Dickinson to Richardton, 100 vehicles with folks inside were stranded. In Dickinson snowplows accompanied emergency vehicles on calls. The storm was preceded on October 1 by temperatures in the 90s, as high as 96 at Beulah. Following the storm, on October 6, temperatures dropped into the teens and single digits above zero, as low as 4 degrees at Powers Lake.

A very late season winter weather event hit northern North Dakota on May 11th and May 12th. Surface low pressure tracked farther south than expected and allowed cold air to filter into northern North Dakota out of Canada. Eight to 12 inches of snowfall was reported over the two day period with snow depths of two to six inches. Water equivalent in the snow was one to two inches. About two-thirds of Mountrail County was without power for at least part of the event as at least 150 power poles began failing as early as 4:00 pm CST on the 11th. There was also extensive tree damage. In Ward County there was damage at 158 different line locations, including wire breaks, damaged cross arms, broken poles and insulators. One-thousand customers were left without power. Hardest hit areas were Berthold, Des Lacs, South Prairie, Max and Carpio.

A low pressure system over Colorado moved northeast over the plains and intensified. Heavy snow fell across northcentral and western North Dakota with snow amounts ranging from 6 to 14 inches. In Divide county 14 inches of snow fell in the city ofFortuna. Other snow amounts includes 12 inches at Beach in Golden Valley county and Rhame in Bowman county received upto 10 inches of snow. Wind gust to 50 mph were reported in many areas resulting in many roads being closed and caused a tour bus accident in Bowman county resulting in seven serious injuries. Power outages were widespread across the northwestarea of the state where up to 500 power lines were downed causing an estimated 1 million dollar's in damage.