2018 Weather Recap Part 1: Blizzard in January & Record-Setting Temps in May

FARGO, N.D. – 2018 saw a pretty big jump. After a cold start to the year, we saw temperatures warm up pretty fast setting records in May and severe weather starting pretty quickly.

After a cold start to the year, we saw temperatures warm up pretty fast setting records in May and severe weather starting pretty quickly.

2018 started with the coldest temperature of the winter on January 5th. The low got all the way down to 23 below. A blizzard came in on the 11th with wind gusting to near 50, but after that first cold spell much of the month saw above average temperatures.

That changed in February. It was one of the 20 coldest Februaries on record in Fargo. The first 12 days saw subzero lows. A whole foot of snow came down. That is five inches more than average.

Even more snow came in March. 19 inches accumulated. That is the third highest march snowfall on record in Fargo. The biggest storm came the last two days of the month. There were over seven inches of snow in Fargo.

The start of spring can see big differences in highs and lows. Temperatures in April ranged from a low of 3 to a high of 81. The sun came out more this month. More than 20 days saw sunshine. Snow lingered on. Another 3.8 inches fell.

May was the first month with no snow. The month still had a cold start. The season’s last freeze was May 11th. Summer weather set in quickly. May set three high temperature records in Fargo. The 24th, 25th, and 26th each reached the highest temperature on record that day. Severe weather season also kicked off. May 24th had the first hail report in Cavalier. Wind that day took a roof off in Crookston. May 30th had a tornado in Foster County, North Dakota.

Severe weather continued in June. Nine days in Fargo had storms. Hail was reported again in Barnes County, North Dakota on June 5th. The month had three different tornado events. Tower City and Emerado had twisters on June 8th. Tornadoes came to Towner County, North Dakota on the 14th. The most in the month were on 28th in Northwood, Twin Valley, Winger, and Erskine

July continued to see severe weather, and then as fall came around temperatures took a dive.

November saw more than half of its days below average.

Later on, I’ll have a look at the second half of the year and how we’re looking for the start of 2019.