Name: Heavy Snow in North Dakota, April 22 to 23, 2001
Start: 2001-04-22T10:00
End: 2001-04-23T04:00
Location: North Dakota

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 4 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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 4

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 spring storm system over Colorado moved into the plains during the early hours on the 22nd of April, then moved into the Great Lakes Region on the 23rd of April. The storm system produced a swath of heavy wet snow from west central SouthDakota through parts of south central and much of southeastern North Dakota. Up to a foot of wet snow fell across thisarea. In south central North Dakota, 6 to 8 inches fell across southern Emmons, La Moure, Dickey and McIntosh counties.

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 22, 2:50 AM CST, 7 hours 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 22, 2:50 AM CST, 7 hours 10 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
350 AM CDT SUN APR 22 2001

FORECAST PROBLEMS TODAY CONCERN POSSIBLE SIG SNOW ACCUMS FOR FAR
SERN CWA LATE THIS AFTN THROUGH TONIGHT. MODELS SIMILAR IN OVERALL
PATN AND WITH QPF AMTS...ALTHOUGH LATEST RUC40 IS WETTER AND BRINGS
A QUARTER INCH OF WATER INTO FAR SERN CWA BY MIDDAY TODAY. ETA/MESO
ETA AND AVN ARE ALL SIMILAR WITH AROUND A TENTH OF AN INCH FOR THE
SAME TIME PERIOD. ALL MODELS SIMILAR WITH PLACEMENT OF
PRECIP...REMAINING CONFINED TO SERN CWA...WITH MOST SIG ACCUM
CONFINED TO DICKEY...LAMOURE AND MCINTOSH COUNTIES IN OUR CWA...AND
LESSER AMTS FROM FT YATES TO JAMESTOWN. COND PRES DEFICITS IND ATMS
WL REMAIN TOO DRY NORTH AND WEST OF FT YATES-JMS LINE FOR ANYTHING
MORE THAN A FEW HUNDRETHS.

PRECIP TYPE IS NEXT CONCERN...FCST MDL SOUNDING FROM DICKEY COUNTY
INDICATES ATMS WL REMAIN BELOW FREEZING EXCEPT FOR PSBLY LOWEST
LEVELS THIS AFTN. ALONG THE PERIPHARY OF PCPN SHIELD...AWAY FROM
STRONGEST DYNAMICS TEMPS RECOVER A LTL MORE SO PLACES LIKE BIS
MAY SEE BEST CHANCE OF A MIX OR CHANGE OVER TO RAIN. ALSO...AS YOU
GO EAST THE STG WAA MAY ALSO ALLOW FOR A CHANGE OVER TO RAIN THIS
AFTN/EARLY EVNG. ATTIM IT APPEARS FAR SC-SE CWA LOOKS LIKE BEST CHC
FOR PRECIP TO REMAIN ALL SNOW.

AFTER COORD WITH FGF DECIDED TO ISSUE WINTER WX ADV FOR FAR SERN
COUNTIES FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. WOULD NOT BE SUPRISED WITH
UP TO 6 INCHES OF HEAVY WET SNOW FAR SOUTHEAST IF PRECIP REMAINS
SNOW THROGHOUT. HOWEVER WITH WARM SFC TEMPS AND UNCERTAINTY OF
PRECIP REMAINING ALL SNOW...JUST HOW MUCH SNOW WILL ACCUMULATE
IS MAIN QUESTION. WL MENTION AMOUNTS OF 2-5 INCHES PSBL FOR ADV
AREA...WITH 1 TO 3 INCHES OF SNOW IN SURROUNDING COUNTIES BUT WL NOT
INCLUDE THESE IN ADV.

PRECIP WL TAPER OFF AROUND MIDNIGHT AS MAIN LOW LIFTS NEAST INTO
GREAT LAKES REGION. SHOULD SEE PRETTY GOOD TEMP RECOVERY WITH DRIER
AIR MOVING IN ON MONDAY.

ANOTHER WK SFC LOW DEVELOPS OVER CWA MON NITE INTO TUE IN ASSOC WITH
S/W ENERGY RIDING OVER WRN RDG. ETA AND TO A LESSER EXTENT THE AVN
IND PRECIP DEVELOPING IN THE WEST AND SPREADING INTO CNTRL ND BY
EARLY TUE. EXTENDED HAS A CHANCE OF RAIN SHOWERS ON TUE FOR ENTIRE
CWA. WL ADD A SMALL CHANCE OF RAIN OR SNOW SHOWERS IN THE WEST
MONDAY NIGHT. OTHERWISE REMAINDER OF EXTENDED PERIOD WAS LEFT
UNCHANGED.

.BIS...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT FAR
       SOUTHEAST...INCLUDING ASHLEY...ELLENDALE AND LAMOURE.

TWH

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Dickey

When: April 22, 10:00 AM CST to April 23, 4:00 AM CST
Where: Dickey forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 46.110, -98.505 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Emmons

When: April 22, 10:00 AM CST to April 23, 4:00 AM CST
Where: Emmons forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 46.285, -100.239 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, La Moure

When: April 22, 10:00 AM CST to April 23, 4:00 AM CST
Where: La Moure forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 46.457, -98.535 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, McIntosh

When: April 22, 10:00 AM CST to April 23, 4:00 AM CST
Where: McIntosh forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 46.112, -99.441 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

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: 5238467, 5238468, 5238469, 5238470.