Power Outage in Williston, ND

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.

Williston ASOS reported wind gusts to 93 mph. Power outages occurred in the Grenora and Epping areas. A trailer home flipped over at the state line west of Williston.

The strong winds blew down a tree onto a power line.

Up to 11 inches of heavy wet snow combined with winds gusting to near 65 mph to result in widespread blizzard conditions. Travel was impossible due to many roads blocked by snow. Numerous trees and power lines were knocked down, leading to a prolonged period of power outages across the county. Some of the adverse effects caused by the disruption in power included reports of water and sewage backups, and thousands of dollars in damages from the loss of refrigerated and frozen foods.

Strong winds were reported in the city of Williston, resulting in power bumps and displaced trash dumpsters.

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

A prolonged period of freezing fog along with periods of freezing drizzle resulted in moderate to heavy ice accumulations on power lines. This caused several overhead power lines and power poles to snap, resulting in scattered power outages across the county.

A severe thunderstorm wind gust resulted in a tree falling onto a power line, causing the power line to snap.

Severe thunderstorm wind gusts resulted in leaning power poles and six to eight inch in diameter tree branches down.

Measured snowfall of 8.4 inches was recorded at the National Weather Service office in Williston. Newspaper media also reported that the heavy wet snow caused power outages across the Williston area for several hours on Sunday. This was caused by heavy wet snow accumulating on leaves, which in turn caused tree branches to break onto power lines. In addition, the heavy wet snow caused severe roof damage to the Williston Public Library, resulting in primarily structural damage and forcing the library to temporarily close.

Discrete severe thunderstorms initially developed in the wake of a warm front in an area of strong instability over northwestern North Dakota during the late morning hours. The storms then started spreading southeast as a cold front pushed into the area. The initial storms were primarily a hail threat, with hail the size of golf balls reported in Williams and McKenzie counties. As the storms shifted southeast and became a line, the primary threat became strong wind gusts. By the time the storms reached the Jamestown area wind gusts were around 85 mph. This resulted in widespread tree and power line damage along with campers and semi-trucks overturning along Interstate 94 resulting in a brief closure of the interstate.

Severe thunderstorms moved from southeast Saskatchewan into northeast Montana, and then into northwest North Dakota where the environment was rich in low level moisture with enhanced deep and low level shear. Initially, supercell thunderstorms produced very large hail up to the size of tennis balls over Williams County before transitioning to a hail and wind threat with reported wind gusts around 62 mph as the storms approached McKenzie County. A mix of severe wind and hail occurred in McKenzie County before a tornado developed along a line of strong wind just to the west of a large recreational vehicle, camper, and mobile home park on the southwest side of Watford City. About 135 people were displaced from their homes. One fatality occurred and 28 people were injured, about 13 of them seriously. Based on the damage the tornado was rated EF2 and from that winds were estimated to have been around 127 mph. The tornado passed through the park causing extensive and severe damage to over 100 recreational vehicles, campers, and single wide manufactured homes. Power poles were snapped and other non-occupied buildings were damaged and some destroyed, including a well-built pole barn. Many vehicles were damaged, some totaled.

An early fall storm brought six to eleven inches of heavy wet snow to parts of western North Dakota from Saturday night of October 11th, through Sunday evening of October 12th. Snowfall reports ranged from six inches in Dunn and Bowman counties, to eleven inches in Golden Valley county. Newspaper media reported that the heavy wet snow accumulating on leaves caused branches to break onto power lines, which resulted in power outages in McKenzie and Williams counties for several hours on Sunday.

See StormData entry for High Wind from April 18, 2006. The high wind event evolved into a winter storm with snow and gusty winds in the 30 to 40 mph range and visibility near zero at times in open country. Power lines were downed with 184 poles reported damaged or destroyed in Williams County alone. An estimated one thousand people were without power at one time or another. In McKenzie County there were three (3) deaths (indirect) and four (4) injuries (indirect) because of a three (3) vehicle accident along U.S. Highway 85. A family from Texas was traveling to Montana when they were involved in a head on accident in McKenzie County, about 20 miles south of Watford City. Killed (indirect) were a 44 year old male, 11 year old male, and a 10 year old female. All three (3) were from the same family. Injured (indirect) were a 39 year old female (same family), a 61 year old male, a 56 year old female, and a 12 year old female. The accident occurred around 220 PM CST on April 18. In Divide County an electric cooperative employee was killed (indirect) around 8 PM CST April 18. The electrical accident occurred about 9 miles southwest of Fortuna, near Alkabo, in Divide county. The 47 year old male with 20 years experience with the COOP was repairing power lines when he was killed (indirect). Interstate 94 was closed from Dickinson, North Dakota, to Glendive, Montana, a distance of about 100 miles, at the height of the storm. No travel was advised in many counties. Snow totals were 8 inches 3 miles south-southeast of Trotters, McKenzie County, and 12 inches at Beach, Golden Valley County. The storm brought major distruption to transportation, commerce, and electrical service.

Low pressure developed over Wyoming moving into central North Dakota on the 26th of December and intensified into a winter storm. The storm was a prolonged event producing 6 to 13 inches of snow in the west. The most snow fell at Power Lakes with 13 inches and Williston with 10 inches.

A low pressure system developed over the Lee of the Rocky Mountain Region Sunday night the 16th of March. It moved intothe Plains and intensified during the early morning hours on Monday, March 17th. The system brought mainly ice to westernNorth Dakota. The heavy coating of ice closed major roads and brought power outages to approximately 300 families insouthwestern North Dakota. The freezing rain also downed approximately 60 power poles across the region. The systemmoved quickly southeast Monday night and the warning was downgraded to an advisory early Tuesday morning the 18th.