Winter Storm in North Dakota, April 2 to 3, 2001

Name: Winter Storm in North Dakota, April 2 to 3, 2001
Start: 2001-04-02T18:00
End: 2001-04-03T08:00
Location: North Dakota

April 2 to 3, 2001 · NWS BIS · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

northeast out of Wyoming into North Dakota and Montana during the evening hours of the 2nd of April 2001. A combination of rain, sleet and brief periods of heavy wet snow fell across western and centralNorth Dakota.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 3

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS BIS wrote it up.

A strong upper level storm system moved north...northeast out of Wyoming into North Dakota and Montana during the evening hours of the 2nd of April 2001. A combination of rain, sleet and brief periods of heavy wet snow fell across western and centralNorth Dakota. Snowfall accumulation's of 4 to 6 inches were common across western North Dakota. The northwest area of thestate received much of the snowfall, where scattered reports of around 6 inches of wet snow accumulated.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Bismarck, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 2, 2:25 PM CST, 3 hours 35 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 2, 2:25 PM CST, 3 hours 35 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
325 PM CDT MON APR 2 2001

COMPLEX SYS APPROACHING FM THE SOUTHWEST..WHICH WILL BE QUICKLY
FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER.

MODELS IN FAIRLY GOOD AGREEMENT WITH OVERALL PATTERN WITH MINOR
DIFFERENCES IN PLAY. MAIN PROB WILL BE TYPE OF PRECIPITATION
WILL FALL AND HOW MUCH. MAIN UPPER LOW OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
WILL EJECT SEVERAL SHORT WAVE SYS THRU THE NORTHERN PLAINS THIS
FORECAST PERIOD. THE FIRST OF THESE SYS FORECAST TO EJECT NORTH..
NORTHEAST OUT OF WYOMING/WESTERN SD INTO ERN MT/WRN ND TONIGHT.
SUPPORTED BY A STRONG UPPER LEVEL JET ACROSS WY INTO ERN MT...
MAIN ENERGY WILL EJECT QUICKLY NORTHWARD INTO CANADA BY TUES
MORNING. DEVELOPING DRY SLOT MOVES OVER SOUTHEAST MT/SOUTHWEST
ND TUES MORNING AND EXPECTED TO CUT OFF MOISTURE SUPPLY BY NOON
TUESDAY. ANOTHER PROB WILL H8 TEMPS. LO LVL TMPS DROP BELOW
ZERO DEG C BRIEFLY IN THE SOUTHWEST TONIGHT THEN REBOUNDS ABOVE
ZERO DEG C TUES MRNG. 500MB HEIGHTS REMAIN ABOVE 540 ACROSS THE
SOUTH. HIGHEST QPF SHOWING A BAND OF AN INCH OR GREATER PRECIP FROM
NORTHCENTRAL MT THRU EXTRME WEST CENTRAL ND BY 12Z TUES WITH LIGHTER
AMOUNTS ACROSS THE REST OF THE CWA. NEXT PROB WILL BE RAIN/SNOW
OVER THE SOUTHWEST. ALTHOUGH WARMER AIR IN PLACE DURING PRECIP
EVENT...THE HIGHER TERRAIN COULD SUPPORT WET SNOW. THE MAIN PROB
WILL BE IN THE NORTHWEST TNGT AND TUES MORNING. THE NORTHWEST WILL
REMAIN IN THE COLD AIR...WITH PLENTY OF MOISTURE IN PLACE THIS
AREA MAY SEE UPWARDS OF 6 INCHES OF SNOW.

WILL ISSUE AND WINTER STORM WARNING IN THE NORTHWEST AND A WINTER
WEATHER ADVISORY IN THE SOUTH. ACROSS THE CENTRAL PRECIP WILL BE
MAINLY RAIN BUT BRIEFLY TURN TO SNOW WITH 1 TO 3 INCHES POSSIBLE.

NEXT SYS PUSHING INTO THE SOUTHWEST LATE TUESDAY NIGHT THE RACES
ACROSS THE SOUTH ON WEDNESDAY. QPF WITH THIS SYS BRINGS UP TO
A 1/2 INCH POSSIBLE ACROSS THE SOUTH. WILL KEEP CHANCE OF RAIN OR
SNOW LTO THE FORECAST.

.BIS...WINTER STORM WARNING NORTHWEST TONIGHT AND TUSDAY MORNING.
       WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY SOUTHWEST TONIGHT AND TUESDAY
       MORNING.

TURNER

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Apr 2, 2:02 PM CST, 3 hours 58 minutes before

NDZ017-022200-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILLISTON ND
301 PM CDT (201 PM MDT) MON APR 2 2001
VERY LIGHT RAIN SHOWERS AND SPRINKLES WILL MOVE NORTH THROUGH
EXTREME WESTERN MqCKENZIE COUNTY THIS AFTERNOON. MOST OF THIS
PRECIPITATION IS NOT REACHING THE GOUND...BUT THERE WILL BE A FEW
ISOLATED AREAS THAT GET WET.

MR

Special weather statement, Apr 2, 2:04 PM CST, 3 hours 56 minutes before

NDZ017-022200-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILLISTON ND
301 PM CDT (201 PM MDT) MON APR 2 2001
VERY LIGHT RAIN SHOWERS AND SPRINKLES WILL MOVE NORTH THROUGH
EXTREME WESTERN MCKENZIE COUNTY THIS AFTERNOON. MOST OF THIS
PRECIPITATION IS NOT REACHING THE GROUND...BUT THERE WILL BE A FEW
ISOLATED AREAS THAT GET WET.

MR

Special weather statement, Apr 2, 5:31 PM CST, 29 minutes before

NDZ017-030030-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILLISTON ND
632 PM CDT (532 PM MDT) MON APR 2 2001

AT 630 PM CDT (530 PM MDT) RADAR IN WILLISTON INDICATED AND AREA OF
LIGHT RAIN AND RAINSHOWERS MOVING FROM SOUTHEST TO NORTHEAST. THIS
AREA OF RAIN AND RAINSHOWERS IS ENTERING SOUTHERN MCKENZIE COUNTY
AND TROTTERS MAY BE RECEIVING SOME LIGHT RAIN AT THIS TIME. THIS
AREA WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE NORTH OVER THE NEXT HOUR AND MAY BE AS
FAR NORTH AS WILLIAMS COUNTY BY 730 PM CDT.

RV

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Divide

When: April 2, 6:00 PM CST to April 3, 8:00 AM CST
Where: Divide forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 48.815, -103.487 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, McKenzie

When: April 2, 6:00 PM CST to April 3, 8:00 AM CST
Where: McKenzie forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 47.740, -103.395 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Williams

When: April 2, 6:00 PM CST to April 3, 8:00 AM CST
Where: Williams forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 48.344, -103.480 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in North Dakota in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in North Dakota, April 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5238464, 5238465, 5238466.