Snow records, wildfire smoke and temperature extremes: 2023 North Dakota weather recap

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – Weather records were common in 2023 as this memorable year brought plenty of snow, wildfire smoke and temperature extremes.

We kicked off 2023 with calm conditions. The least windy January on record and moisture from gradual snow melt helped to develop fog on many days and caused the most dense fog advisories to be issued on record for any one month.

By the end of January, Arctic air settled in with wind chills in the 30s and 40s below zero.

February had big temperature swings, from near-record highs in the middle of the month back to the Arctic plunge by the end of February, and even all the way down to the lowest temperature of the year in Bismarck at -29° on the 24th.

With still close to a foot of snow on the ground, strong winds caused lots of blowing snow, leading to blizzard warnings, low visibility and road closures.

Multiple snow storms carried over into March, likely our most impactful weather month of the year, starting off with a big storm from February 28 to March 1.

The plateau of accumulated seasonal snowfall mid-winter turned into a sharp rise as storm after storm came with accumulations from each ranging from a handful of inches to over a foot.

Many Alberta clippers came from the northwest, including one on March 11 that led to an expansive blizzard warning and no travel advised for the whole state due to reduced visibility and some impressive snow totals.

The frigid temperatures stuck with us through the majority of the month, leading to the coldest March since 1951 in Bismarck and the top ten coldest regionwide.

The snow piled up to the fifth snowiest March on record in Bismarck as we closed in on the all-time snowiest winter season, 1996-97.

One final big Colorado Low tracked through the Upper Midwest in early April with the highest impacts and blizzard conditions in eastern North Dakota.

Throughout winter, we set many notable snow depth records in Bismarck, including the longest streak with more than eight inches as well as more than one inch of snow on the ground, from mid-November to mid-April.

We also set a record for the latest in the season with 18 inches of snow on the ground, all the way on April 5.

That snow then melted away fairly rapidly, as temperatures finally climbed into the 50s, the first time in a record length of days, and even record highs in the 80s on April 11. This led to ice jams and flooding in parts of the region.

The final snow system came through around April 20, but it wasn’t enough to tip the scales as Bismarck finished 0.4″ away from the all-time snow season record. Dickinson ended up setting a new record for the 2022-23 season.

Severe thunderstorms began to fire up in May with an impressive supercell depositing large hail in the Bismarck-Mandan area on May 9.

Some more rain events in May helped to eliminate drought conditions in North Dakota by the end of the month – a big improvement from 80% of the state in drought at the start of 2023.

The summer of smoke began abruptly on May 17 as Canadian wildfire smoke was transported south, leading to North Dakota’s worst day for air quality in a long time with the AQI in the hazardous classification and beyond the scale in some spots.

This smoke continued to come in waves throughout the summer, causing some issues for those with respiratory diseases, as Canada had their worst wildfire season ever.

In a summer that featured some hot periods, but not usually for a long duration, our hottest day — and Bismarck’s only one in the triple digits this year — was on July 26, just in time for the state fair with 90s in Minot.

Some bigger, fall-like soakers left southern North Dakota with a good amount of moisture through the summer, while the north dried out and drought was re-introduced, even getting to extreme drought by the end of August.

Hazy, hot and humid conditions were present to wrap up August and early September before the heat broke with severe storms and damaging winds in south-central North Dakota on Labor Day.

With only a couple of notable instances of damage caused by thunderstorms, including in Sioux County on June 21 and at Buelah Bay on August 1, the 2023 severe weather season ended with the least number of severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings issued by the National Weather Service in about 30 years.

Smoky skies continued at times into the fall as the number of acres burned in Canada approached the size of North Dakota.

An impressive high-end wind event happened across the west on October 17 with 60-85 mph gusts.

The fall featured mostly mild temperatures until October 25 through 27 when an early-season, high-impact winter storm blanketed the state with 8-12″ or more of snow, leading to tricky travel conditions. Frigid temperatures allowed for the snow to stick around for Halloween, which was one of our coldest on record thanks to all that fresh snowpack.

But the snow melted and temperatures were mild for most of November with little to no snow. At the start of the final month of 2023, we tied the record highest temperature for all of December at 66°.

Overall, December was a very warm month, finishing in the top three, if not the number one, warmest on record. But it still came with some wintry moments, such as a quick-moving wind and snow system on December 8, and then the highly impactful recent ice storm around Christmas that left over 20,000 North Dakotans without electricity, mostly in the south and east. This storm caused the National Weather Service to issue its first ice storm warning in North Dakota since 2016 and travel to be severely impacted as people skated on the streets.

March and April stick out on the cold side, while May, June and especially December stand out for warmth when compared to normal.

The Northern Lights also danced in the night sky many times this year, including vivid displays in February, March and especially April.

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