A Powerful Weekend Winter Storm Could Impact North Dakota

You just knew we were going to pay for that 71-degree day on Sunday here in Bismarck.

A Snowy Weekend in North Dakota?

This weekend is shaping up to be very different from last weekend in terms of the weather. Last weekend saw highs near 60 on Saturday, with a record-breaking 71 on Sunday. Then, on Monday, back to reality, that it is still technically winter, as we were blanketed with a layer of snow. Most of that snow should melt in the next couple of days, but a double punch of snow systems is likely to affect us from Thursday evening through the weekend.

The First: An Alberta Clipper System

A fast-moving clipper system could drop an inch or two on us Thursday evening into Friday morning. This system will start out as rain, so it's unlikely we will see any significant snow accumulation from round one.

The Second: A Bigger Potential for Accumulating Snow

The map I'm about to show you is a weather model, not a forecast. Weather models change daily, and this will likely change again before this weekend. Still, I will say this model is more conservative than some I've seen, which show snow potential measured in feet, not inches, for this weekend. This is the Euro Model (ECMWF), and it shows much of North Dakota with a good swath of 6 to 8 inches of snow, with extreme southeast North Dakota maybe getting as much as 10 plus inches. Again, this would be a Friday night to Sunday morning timeframe for this potential snow event.

Again, this is one weather model, but it is on the more conservative side, and several meteorologists seem to be leaning toward this possibility. No matter what, I don't know about you, but I have a "no shovel" policy during the month of March. I don't care how much we get. I hope I don't have to break that.