Blizzard — Nelson, North Dakota

2025-12-18 · Nelson, North Dakota

Event narrative

Visibility reductions under a quarter mile started at 5:00 am and persisted through 1:00 pm. Peak winds were 59mph.

Wider weather episode

A strong clipper type system moved through the Northern Plains and upper Midwest, and brought hazardous winter impacts and high winds to eastern North Dakota and northwest and west central Minnesota. Initially rain and freezing rain fell ahead of the snow, followed by flash freeze conditions as light to moderate snow developed and brought 1 to 4 inches of snowfall to the region. Peak winds were in the 60 to 72 mph range during this evening and combined with falling snow to produce blizzard conditions. The icy roads exacerbated difficult to impossible travel as blizzard conditions developed. I-29 was closed in northeast North Dakota from Grand Forks to the US Canada border.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1307056. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.