New Neighbors introduced to ‘North Dakota Nice’ after Winter Storm

More than a foot of snow has fallen on the FM metro with this latest storm, and it's left snow plow crews across the area with a huge mess. For residents in West Fargo, that mess is bringing them closer together.

WEST FARGO, N.D. – With plows stuck in the snow, cars buried and streets not expected to fully open until Tuesday, this major winter blizzard has to be the worst way to end the decade.

“We probably haven’t had one of these in like 15 years” said Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney.

“This has been the worst blizzard we have ever witnessed” said Terry Yalartai, a new resident to West Fargo.

Terry Yalartai is brand new to West Fargo. His family moved here on December 13th.
He was warned ahead of time about the weather here, but he didn’t expect anything close to this.

“This whole place was closed. You couldn’t come out. There was a lot of cars getting stuck out here. I brought my kids out and we were able to help a couple of families. It was really horrible yesterday.” said Terry.

This storm dropped over a foot of snow on the metro, the most snow a storm has produced since 2010.
Terry says that with a storm like this, you start to understand the famous saying ‘North Dakota Nice’

“As neighbors up here, that’s one of the most important things, helping each other out. My neighbors been real nice to us since I moved up here. He’s been helping us a lot with his snow blower, removing the snow from our driveway and we help with the shovel. It would be a really good idea for us to stick together because it takes a really long time for the city to come up here and help us out” said Terry.

“We gotta make sure we can drive, and make sure we get the mailbox so mail can come in. Everybody kind of plays their own part to make sure the snow is piled up back here instead of out on the road” said Josh Hall, a resident of West Fargo and one of Terry’s neighbors.

Public Works departments in all three cities have had to deal with a lot of issues all over the metro, including icey roads that reduce the effectiveness of plow trucks, and equipment breaking down.

“Society today really expects everybody to get everything open as quickly as possible, within 24 to 48 hours. We’re hustling to get that done. We’ll get there, and we’ll get you out, but be patient” said Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney.

With the heaviest snow fall in nearly a decade now behind us, hopefully we can start 2020 with better weather.

Mayor Mahoney says he expects all roads in Fargo to be initially plowed by tonight with a second run-through 24 to 48 hours later.

The City of Moorhead says getting all of their streets open and passable may take until early Tuesday morning. They expect to resume their sanitation services by 5:00 AM.