Blizzard — Sioux, North Dakota

2010-01-25 · Sioux, North Dakota

$1.8M

Property damage

Event narrative

Wind gusts up to near 50 mph combined with falling snow and existing loose snow cover to create widespread blizzard conditions across Sioux County. The strong winds and blizzard conditions resulted in additional downed power lines and delayed the repair of existing downed power lines. The total estimated damage from this storm (January 18th through January 25th) was well over one million dollars.

Wider weather episode

The third and final phase of an intense storm system (see Storm Data Entry for January 18-23) came on Sunday the 24th and Monday the 25th as the storm center started to pull out of the Northern Plains. As this occurred, areas of wrap around snow developed west and spread east, bringing several more inches of accumulation to the area. More significantly, wind speeds increased due to a strengthening pressure gradient and strong mixing, resulting in full blown blizzard conditions across much of North Dakota beginning in the west on Sunday and spreading east on Monday. Peak wind speed gusts at major reporting stations ranged from 45 to 55 mph over this two day period. These strong winds resulted in further power outages and delayed the repair of existing downed power lines. Conditions improved Monday night into Tuesday as the storm pushed through the Great Lakes region.

Impacts from this event were substantial. Numerous no travel advisories were issued by state and county officials, and several roads were closed due to icy conditions and near zero visibilities. Numerous schools and businesses were also closed either due to the blizzard conditions which followed on the 24th and the 25th, or the widespread power outages. Preliminary damage assessments indicated that there was over 20 million dollars in total damages over west and central North Dakota due to this storm, with the majority of damages related to utility systems.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 208459. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.