Insane October Rainfall Totals Across North Dakota

Just when you thought North Dakota was starting to dry out.

October rain is nothing new in North Dakota, but it's not very often that we see thunderstorms. That's exactly what happened late Saturday evening into the early hours of Sunday morning.

It took a while for the moisture to reach Bismarck-Mandan, as western North Dakota experienced cool showers for a significant portion of Saturday afternoon. However, the skies finally opened up for us late in the day, and we received a good soaking. Nearly 2 inches of rain fell in the Capital Region.

This weekend's rain will put the harvest temporarily on hold.

It shouldn't be delayed too long, given the combination of daytime sun and some wind in the middle of this week; that should dry things out, allowing tractors to return to the fields.

Freeze warnings were issued Sunday by the National Weather Service, a reminder that colder weather is not that far away, but it looks like temperatures will be on the upswing throughout the week, with daytime highs of 60s and eventually the low 70s.

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Here are the area rainfall totals across south-central and southwest North Dakota from October 4th & 5th, 2025.

According to the National Weather Service in Bismarck and radar rainfall estimates from weather.us.

Bismarck Airport received 1.90 inches of rain.

Minot received 1.40 inches of rain.

New Salem received 1.31 inches of rain.

Karlsruhe received 1.94 inches of rain.

Carson received 1.87 inches of rain.

Pick City received 1.62 inches of rain.

Minot received 1.40 inches of rain.

Garrison received 1.32 inches of rain.

Dickinson received 1.02 inches of rain.

Sterling received .58 inch of rain.

Lincoln received 1.98 inches of rain.

Wilton received 1.17 inches of rain.

New Salem received 1.31 inches of rain.

Mott received 2.25 inches of rain.

Ruso received 3.54 inches of rain. (HIGHEST TOTAL in the state) 

Menoken received 1.19 inches of rain.