The Fergus Falls Daily Journal

By Tom Hintgen

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Snowfall surpasses ‘worst December’

Published 12:00pm Friday, January 9, 2009

Few people who lived in Otter Tail County in 1996-97 will ever forget the record snowfall and devastating spring flooding. December 2008 snowfall, however, surpassed the total from December 1996.

“We caution that flooding in 2009 might not be anywhere near as bad as in 1997,” said Peter Rogers, meteorologist with the National Weather Service, Grand Forks office. “Hopefully, people in Otter Tail County and elsewhere won’t have snowfall like a dozen years ago.”

Nonetheless, Fergus Falls snowfall in December 2008 was over 20 inches more than in December 1996. Water equivalent, said Rogers, also needs to be taken into consideration when it comes to precipitation and flooding potential.

Last month Fergus Falls recorded a total of 38.8 inches of snow, equivalent to 2.08 inches of water. In December 1996, snowfall in Fergus Falls amounted to 18.5 inches, and 0.99 inches of equivalent water.

Now, in January 2009, Rogers and other meteorologists wish they had a crystal ball in order to predict snowfall and precipitation through April of this year.

Over the course of the 1996-97 winter, much of the Red River Valley, Otter Tail County and northwestern Minnesota received over six feet of snowfall. This compares to the 3.2 feet of snow recorded in Fergus Falls in December 2008.

This year’s December snowfall, in parts of Otter Tail County, exceeds the record of 30 inches of snowfall established in 1927. However, as cautioned by Rogers, water equivalency is an important factor that needs to be taken into consideration.

Twelve years ago, in 1997, Highway 210 between Breckenridge and Fergus Falls was closed at least a dozen times due to snowstorms. Along Highway 59 near Pelican Rapids, walls of snow were as high as 15 feet.

In April 1997, Highway 210 between Foxhome and Fergus Falls was down to one lane of traffic, with water on both sides of the road.

At Fargo, 117.0 inches of snow fell during the 1996-97 season, compared to its long-term average snowfall of 38.9 inches and seasonal record of 89.1 inches.

The severe flood took place in April and May 1997, along the Red River of the North in North Dakota, Minnesota and southern Manitoba. It was the most severe flood of the river since 1926.

The flood impacted the cities of Breckenridge-Wahpeton, Fargo-Moorhead and Winnipeg. No area, however, was as greatly affected as was Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, where floodwaters reached over three miles inland. The water inundated virtually everything in the twin communities.