Blizzard in Minnesota, January 1, 2011

Name: Blizzard in Minnesota, January 1, 2011
Start: 2011-01-01T00:00
End: 2011-01-01T12:08
Location: Minnesota

January 1, 2011 · NWS FGF · 6 events in 6 counties and zones

This event began on December 31, 2010 and carried into January 1, 2011. As one blizzard event ended, hardly 14 hours passed and portions of the region were back in a second blizzard.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 6 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: 6

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 FGF wrote it up.

This event began on December 31, 2010 and carried into January 1, 2011. As one blizzard event ended, hardly 14 hours passed and portions of the region were back in a second blizzard. These rare back-to-back blizzards ended up shutting down a good majority of events across the area. A second strong surface low pressure system lifted out of southwest Minnesota and tracked toward the Minnesota arrowhead, producing another swath of 6 to 8 inches of snow along with very gusty north winds. This resulted in blizzard conditions from New Years Eve into the 2011 New Year. Regional transportation means were shut down once again. Most of Interstate 94 remained closed from the first blizzard and all of Interstate 29 in North Dakota shut down. Most segments of U. S. Highway's 10 and 2 were shut down and the airports at Fargo and Grand Forks closed.

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 Grand Forks, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 31, 2:22 PM CST, 9 hours 38 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 31, 2:22 PM CST, 9 hours 38 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND
222 PM CST FRI DEC 31 2010

.SHORT TERM...

THE MAIN CHALLENGE CONTINUES TO BE THE NEXT BLIZZARD FOR THE RED
RIVER VALLEY LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING. MODELS
CONTINUE IN VERY GOOD AGREEMENT...WITH VERY LITTLE DIFFERENCE TO
SPEAK OF.

BLIZZARD TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING...A VERY STRONG UPPER
WAVE IS EVIDENT ON WATER VAPOR MOVING INTO THE CENTRAL PLAINS.
SNOW CONTINUES TO SPREAD RAPIDLY NORTH...AND CONDITIONS WILL
DETERIORATE QUICKLY THROUGH THIS EVENING FROM SOUTH TO NORTH.
THE NAM IS PICKING UP ON A GRAVITY WAVE FEATURE IN THE PRESSURE
FIELD. THERE WILL BE STRONG WARM ADVECTION OVER A VERY COLD DOME
IN PLACE...AND SNOW RATIOS WILL BE IN THE 15 TO 20 TO 1 RANGE...SO
SOME AREAS WILL LIKELY GET FROM 6 TO 10 INCHES GIVEN THE 0.50 QPF
AMOUNTS PROGGED. SNOW MAY BE HEAVY AT TIMES TONIGHT AS WELL GIVEN
THE STRONG FORCING AND UPPER LEVEL DIVERGENCE WITH THE AMPLIFYING
UPPER LOW. SNOW AMOUNTS IN THE DEVILS LAKE BASIN TO THE LANGDON
AREA WILL BE MUCH LIGHTER...PROBABLY IN THE 1-3 INCH RANGE. WINDS
HERE WILL BE STRONG ENOUGH FOR BLIZZARD CONDITIONS THOUGH. THE
BEST LINKAGE OF WINDS OCCURS SATURDAY MORNING WHEN 850MB WINDS
INCREASE TO 50KT...SO BLIZZARD CONDITIONS WILL LIKELY PERSIST
THROUGH AT LEAST THE MORNING WITH ROADS DRIFTING SHUT LIKELY
BECOMING A PROBLEM LATER TONIGHT AND SATURDAY MORNING. IF THE
STORM SLOWS ANY...THEN HEADLINES WILL BE NEEDED INTO SAT AFTERNOON
AND WE CAN RE-EVALUATE THIS LATER.

FOR SATURDAY NIGHT...CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE TO IMPROVE AS THE
PRESSURE GRADIENT RELAXES. EXPECT A COLD NIGHT WITH TEMPS FALLING
BELOW ZERO.

ON SUNDAY...DRY CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED WITH PERHAPS SOME CLOUDS
MAINLY IN THE WEST.

ON MONDAY...A WEAK CLIPPER SYSTEM WILL MOVE THROUGH AND AFFECT
MAINLY THE SOUTHERN AREAS WITH A CHANCE FOR LIGHT SNOW.

.LONG TERM [MON NIGHT-FRI]...
NATIONAL DISCUSSIONS FAVORING THE EUROPEAN ENSEMBLE MEAN FOR THE
LONG TERM FORECAST DETAILS. KIND OF LOOKING AT EITHER ZONAL FLOW OR
A SLIGHTLY FLAT WEST-NORTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT FOR MOST OF THE
PERIOD. MODELS TRY TO BRING IN SOME WEAKER WAVES OF ENERGY WHICH MAY
RESULT IN SOME MINOR LIGHT SNOW BUT AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE ECMWF AND
GFS IS NOT VERY GOOD. 12Z GFS SHOWS AN ARCTIC HIGH DROPPING SOUTH
TOWARD THE END OF THE LONG TERM PERIOD WHILE THE CANADIAN GEM SHOWS
SHOWS A COUPLE OF AREAS OF LOW PRESSURE...ONE OVER THE CANADIAN
CENTRAL PLAINS AND ONE OVER THE MIDWEST. ECMWF LOOKS A LITTLE CLOSER
TO THE GEM BUT CONFIDENCE PRETTY LOW FOR NOW. THEREFORE STUCK WITH A
DRY FORECAST FOR NOW AND WILL SEE WHAT LATER MODEL RUNS BRING.

&&

.AVIATION...
CONDITIONS COULD DETERIORATE FAIRLY RAPIDLY AGAIN THIS EVENING AS
THE NEXT SNOW BAND MOVES IN. STILL KIND OF IN A LULL RIGHT NOW BUT
AS THE SNOW JUST TO THE SOUTH OF THE FA MOVES IN THE COMBINATION OF
FALLING SNOW...DARKNESS AND WIND WILL DROP VSBYS DOWN PRETTY LOW
AGAIN. HAVE KEPT THINGS LOW VSBY/CEILING WISE UNTIL LATE SAT MORNING
WHEN THERE MIGHT BE A SLIGHT IMPROVEMENT.

&&

.FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
ND...BLIZZARD WARNING UNTIL NOON CST SATURDAY FOR
     NDZ038-039-049-052- 053.

     WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 6 PM CST THIS EVENING FOR
     NDZ006>008-014>016-024-026>030-054.

     BLIZZARD WARNING FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO NOON CST SATURDAY FOR
     NDZ006>008-014>016-024-026>030-054.

MN...BLIZZARD WARNING UNTIL NOON CST SATURDAY FOR
     MNZ003-027-029>031- 040.

     WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 6 PM CST THIS EVENING FOR MNZ001-
     002-004>009-013>017-022>024.

     WINTER STORM WARNING FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO NOON CST SATURDAY
     FOR MNZ006-009-016-017-023-024.

     BLIZZARD WARNING FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO NOON CST SATURDAY FOR
     MNZ001-002-004-005-007-008-013>015-022.

     WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL NOON CST SATURDAY FOR MNZ028-032.

&&

DK/GODON

Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 31, 2:23 PM CST, 9 hours 37 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND
223 PM CST FRI DEC 31 2010

MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024-
026>030-038-039-049-052>054-012030-
WEST POLK-NORMAN-CLAY-KITTSON-ROSEAU-LAKE OF THE WOODS-
WEST MARSHALL-EAST MARSHALL-NORTH BELTRAMI-PENNINGTON-RED LAKE-
EAST POLK-NORTH CLEARWATER-SOUTH BELTRAMI-MAHNOMEN-
SOUTH CLEARWATER-HUBBARD-WEST BECKER-EAST BECKER-WILKIN-
WEST OTTER TAIL-EAST OTTER TAIL-WADENA-GRANT-TOWNER-CAVALIER-
PEMBINA-BENSON-RAMSEY-EASTERN WALSH COUNTY-EDDY-NELSON-
GRAND FORKS-GRIGGS-STEELE-TRAILL-BARNES-CASS-RANSOM-SARGENT-
RICHLAND-WESTERN WALSH COUNTY-
223 PM CST FRI DEC 31 2010

...VARIOUS WINTER WEATHER WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT...

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NORTH
DAKOTA...WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

SNOWFALL ALONG THE NORTH AND SOUTH DAKOTA BORDER INTO WEST
CENTRAL MINNESOTA THIS AFTERNOON WILL CONTINUE TO EXPAND TO THE
NORTH TONIGHT. MUCH OF THE AREA IS EXPECTED TO PICK UP 6 TO 9
INCHES OF ADDITIONAL SNOW TONIGHT INTO EARLY SATURDAY. THE LEAST
AMOUNT OF SNOW IS EXPECTED OVER THE DEVILS LAKE REGION...WHERE
ABOUT 1 TO 4 INCHES IS EXPECTED.

WIND CONTINUES TO BE A BIG PROBLEM OVER THE AREA WITH WIND GUSTS
RANGING AROUND 35 MPH IN THE RED RIVER VALLEY TO 30 MPH NEAR
DEVILS LAKE. MUCH LOWER WIND SPEEDS WILL BE FOUND OVER THOSE
PORTIONS OF NORTHWEST MINNESOTA OUTSIDE OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY
INTO THE EVENING. AS DARKNESS COMES TONIGHT WIND GUSTS WILL
COMBINE WITH THE FALLING SNOW TO CREATE BLIZZARD CONDITIONS OVER
THE RED RIVER VALLEY INTO PORTIONS OF CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA. A
BLIZZARD WARNING IS IN EFFECT WEST OF A LINE FROM WARROAD TO
MAHNOMEN TO PARKERS PRAIRIE ALL THE WAY INTO CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA
FOR TONIGHT THROUGH NOON SATURDAY.

DUE TO A BIT MORE SHELTER FROM THE TREES...AREAS FROM BAUDETTE TO
BEMIDJI TO WADENA WILL BE IN A WINTER STORM WARNING TONIGHT
THROUGH NOON SATURDAY. WIND SPEEDS ACROSS THIS AREA WILL PICK UP
LATE TONIGHT INTO EARLY SATURDAY. DESPITE THE NEW YEARS
CELEBRATIONS...IF YOU DO NOT HAVE TO TRAVEL IT WOULD BE BEST TO
STAY AT HOME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY

BLIZZARD CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE SATURDAY MORNING THEN WINDS WILL
DIMINISH SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE OUTLOOK FOR NEXT WEEK
SHOWS A MUCH QUIETER WEATHER PATTERN.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

DESPITE THE DIFFICULTY IN OBTAINING ACCURATE SNOWFALL MEASUREMENTS
IN THE STRONG WIND...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WOULD APPRECIATE
ANY SNOWFALL REPORTS.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Dec 31, 6:43 PM CST, 5 hours 17 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
643 PM CST FRI DEC 31 2010

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0642 PM     HEAVY SNOW       LIDGERWOOD              46.07N 97.15W
12/31/2010  M4.0 INCH        RICHLAND           ND   CO-OP OBSERVER

            4.0 INCHES WITH NEW SNOWFALL EVENT...SNOW IS ONGOING

&&

12

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

6 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.

Blizzard, Kittson

When: January 1, 12:00 AM CST to 12:08 PM CST
Where: Kittson forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 48.777, -96.783 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Blizzard, West Marshall

When: January 1, 12:00 AM CST to 12:08 PM CST
Where: West Marshall forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 48.358, -96.368 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Blizzard, West Polk

When: January 1, 12:00 AM CST to 12:08 PM CST
Where: West Polk forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 47.774, -96.402 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Blizzard, Norman

When: January 1, 12:00 AM CST to 12:08 PM CST
Where: Norman forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 47.327, -96.455 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Blizzard, Clay

When: January 1, 12:00 AM CST to 12:08 PM CST
Where: Clay forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 46.892, -96.491 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Blizzard, Wilkin

When: January 1, 12:00 AM CST to 12:08 PM CST
Where: Wilkin forecast zone
Reported by: COOP Observer
Coordinates: 46.357, -96.468 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Blizzard: Sustained winds or frequent gusts of 35 mph or more with falling or blowing snow that cuts visibility below a quarter mile for three hours or longer.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Minnesota in 2011 Every state in 2011 This day in weather history Warnings in Minnesota, January 2011

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: 279019, 279020, 279021, 279022, 279023, 279024.