North Dakota, 2002

Winter Storm in North Dakota, May 7 to 8, 2002

May 7 to 8, 2002 · NWS BIS · 29 events in 29 counties and zones

A low pressure system at the surface and upper atmosphere came together to produce heavy snow across northwest andnorth central North Dakota. Heavy wet snow accumulated between 6 to 10 inches, with some local reports up to 15 inchesfell in a band from Williston through Minot to Bottineau and Rolla.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 25 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
29

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 low pressure system at the surface and upper atmosphere came together to produce heavy snow across northwest andnorth central North Dakota. Heavy wet snow accumulated between 6 to 10 inches, with some local reports up to 15 inchesfell in a band from Williston through Minot to Bottineau and Rolla. The storm system moved out of the area by noon on the 9th of May.

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 May 7, 1:45 PM CST, 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 7, 1:45 PM CST, 45 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
245 PM CDT TUE MAY 7 2002

MAIN FORECAST PROBLEM TODAY WL BE SNOWFALL TYPE AND AMOUNTS TONIGHT
THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

MDLS PRETTY SIMILAR IN OVERALL PATN...BRINGING POTENT UPR SYSTEM
ACROSS NRN PLAINS. BTWN FCST HRS 12 AND 18 ETA DOES DROP PACIFIC S/W
FARTHER SOUTH THAN AVN  AND THUS THROUGH REMAINDER OF PD BEST PVA IS
FARTHER SOUTH...THIS MAY BE ONE REASON WHY ETA HAS MORE QPF FARTHER
TO THE SOUTH. NO MATTER WHICH MODEL YOU PICK...YOU WILL COME UP WITH
THE SAME QUESTION...WHERE WILL THE RAIN/SNOW LINE BE. LOOKING AT
CRITICAL TEMPS AND THICKNESSES BIS IS ON THE FENSE AND COULD GO
EITHER WAY...WE ARE LEANING TWD MORE SNOW...BUT ATTIM I THINK CITY
OF BIS WL MISS THE HEAVIEST SNOW BAND...WHICH WL BE TO THE NORTH OF
THE CITY. HOWEVER IT IS TOO CLOSE TO LEAVE OUT OF ANY WARNING.

SO...WL ISSUE WINTER STORM WARNING FOR ALL OF WESTERN AND CENTRAL
NORTH DAKOTA EXCEPT FOR SERN CWA...FROM LINTON TO JMS AND SOUTH TO
THE SOUTH DAKOTA BORDER. IN THIS AREA WL GO WITH WINTER WX ADVISORY.
AS FOR AMOUNTS WL MENTION 3 TO 6 INCHES OVER ENTIRE WARNING AREA
WITH A BAND OF HIGHER AMOUNTS. WL GO WITH 1 TO 3 INCHES IN THE
ADVISORY AREA.

WL NOT MAKE ANY CHANGES TO THE EXTENDED FCST ATTIM AS UNSETTLED
PERIOD THROUGH WEEKEND LOOKS GOOD. WL KEEP TEMPS ON THE LOW SIDE OF
GUIDANCE TEMPS.

.BIS...WINTER STORM WARNING TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING...
    FOR WESTERN AND MOST OF CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA...
    ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT...
    FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA...

TWH

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

29 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Adams

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 2:00 AM CST
Where
Adams forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
46.097, -102.528 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Billings

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 2:00 AM CST
Where
Billings forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
47.023, -103.376 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Bottineau

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 3:00 PM CST
Where
Bottineau forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
48.792, -100.833 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Bowman

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 2:00 AM CST
Where
Bowman forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
46.113, -103.521 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Burke

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 3:00 PM CST
Where
Burke forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
48.791, -102.518 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Burleigh

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 2:00 AM CST
Where
Burleigh forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
46.977, -100.469 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Divide

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 3:00 PM 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, Dunn

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 2:00 AM CST
Where
Dunn forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
47.357, -102.618 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Foster

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 3:00 PM CST
Where
Foster forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
47.457, -98.883 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Golden Valley

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 2:00 AM CST
Where
Golden Valley forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
46.940, -103.847 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Grant

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 2:00 AM CST
Where
Grant forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
46.358, -101.640 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Hettinger

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 2:00 AM CST
Where
Hettinger forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
46.433, -102.460 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, McHenry

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 3:00 PM CST
Where
McHenry forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
48.235, -100.636 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, McKenzie

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 3:00 PM 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, McLean

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 3:00 PM CST
Where
McLean forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Winter Storm, Mercer

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 3:00 PM CST
Where
Mercer forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
47.309, -101.831 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Morton

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 2:00 AM CST
Where
Morton forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Winter Storm, Mountrail

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 3:00 PM CST
Where
Mountrail forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
48.201, -102.356 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Oliver

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 2:00 AM CST
Where
Oliver forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
47.115, -101.340 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Pierce

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 3:00 PM CST
Where
Pierce forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
48.250, -99.972 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Renville

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 3:00 PM CST
Where
Renville forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
48.719, -101.658 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Rolette

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 3:00 PM CST
Where
Rolette forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
48.772, -99.841 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Sheridan

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 3:00 PM CST
Where
Sheridan forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
47.575, -100.346 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Sioux

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 2:00 AM CST
Where
Sioux forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Winter Storm, Slope

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 2:00 AM CST
Where
Slope forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
46.447, -103.460 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Stark

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 2:00 AM CST
Where
Stark forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
46.811, -102.655 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Ward

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 3:00 PM CST
Where
Ward forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Winter Storm, Wells

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 3:00 PM CST
Where
Wells forecast zone
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
47.588, -99.661 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Williams

When
May 7, 2:30 PM CST to May 8, 3:00 PM 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

More

Every storm in North Dakota in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in North Dakota, May 2002

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: 5296321, 5296322, 5296323, 5296324, 5296325, 5296326, 5296400, 5296401, 5296402, 5296403, 5296404, 5296405, 5296406, 5296407, 5296408, 5296409, 5296410, 5296411, 5296412, 5296413, 5296414, 5296415, 5296416, 5296417, 5296418, 5296419, 5296420, 5296421, 5296422.