North Dakota Should Prepare For Possible Blizzard Conditions

UPDATE: A Winter Storm Watch has been issued for some of our listening area.

This includes the counties of McLean, Burleigh, and Kidder.  To include the communities of Bismarck, Steele, Garrison, Underwood, Wilton, Sterling, Menoken, Wing, and Turtle Lake.

The Winter Storm Watch runs from Friday evening all the way through early Sunday morning.

Heavy snow and blizzard conditions are possible.  The watch area could see 6 to 12 inches of snow with the highest accumulations in north central North Dakota.  Bismarck looks to be on the lower end of the 6 to 12-inch total.

This will be heavy wet snow, with thundersnow possible, and very strong wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour.

Travel could become very dangerous to impossible inside the watch area.

Widespread blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility.  The National Weather Service says you should prepare for possible blizzard conditions.

If we did get as much as a foot of snow in Bismarck, we will be closing in on the all-time record for snowfall in a single winter season of 101.6 inches.  This record goes all the way back to the winter of 96-97.  We've already achieved a top-10 all-time snowfall season for this winter.

A Winter Weather Advisory has been issued for the remainder of our listening area.

This includes counties south of Bismarck and those in southwest North Dakota.  The Winter Weather Advisory runs until 11 pm tonight.  3 to 6 inches are possible over much of southern North Dakota today and this evening.