Convective snow bands associated with two mid level short wave impulses brought heavy snow to parts of south central North Dakota early in the morning of the 23rd. Near daybreak, a mesoscale convective vortex developed and brought additional heavy snow amounts to the same area.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS BIS wrote it up.
Convective snow bands associated with two mid level short wave impulses brought heavy snow to parts of south central North Dakota early in the morning of the 23rd. Near daybreak, a mesoscale convective vortex developed and brought additional heavy snow amounts to the same area. Snowfall totals ranged from two inches upwards to over one foot across parts of Morton and Grant counties.
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 Feb 23, 12:54 AM CST, 6 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND 1254 AM CST THU FEB 23 2012 .DISCUSSION... REGIONAL RADARS IN THE PAST COUPLE OF HOURS HAD DEPICTED CONVECTIVE SNOW BANDS DEVELOPING...MAINLY FROM NEAR BEULAH/DICKINSON SOUTHWARD...MAINLY WEST OF THE MISSOURI RIVER. A SURFACE LOW WAS CENTERED OVER CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA AND AN UPPER LEVEL SHORTWAVE WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST ACROSS EASTERN MONTANA/WESTERN NORTH DAKOTA/EASTERN WYOMING/WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA. THE CONVECTIVE SNOW BANDS WERE ASSOCIATED WITH THE UPPER LEVEL SHORTWAVES...WHICH WERE MOVING SOUTHEAST. THE MODELS WERE INDICATING THAT THE INITIAL MAIN SHORTWAVE SHOULD MOVE INTO SOUTH DAKOTA BY 09Z...AND THE SECOND WHICH WAS JUST ENTERING WESTERN NORTH DAKOTA SHOULD BE OUT OF THE REGION BETWEEN 15Z AND 18Z TODAY. THUS THE TIMING AND AREAL COVERAGE OF THE CURRENT WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY APPEARS TO BE VALID...AND MAIN POINTS OF THE FORECAST ARE IN GOOD SHAPE. HOWEVER...DUE TO THE CONVECTIVE BANDING...EXPANDED THE AREA OF 2-3 INCH SNOWFALL EXPECTED TO INCLUDE MUCH OF MORTON AND EMMONS COUNTIES. THUS EXPECT THAT TOTAL SNOWFALL SHOULD RANGE BETWEEN 2 AND 4 INCHES FROM BEACH TO MANDAN/BISMARCK TO LINTON AND POINTS SOUTH. SOME ISOLATED LOCALES MAY SEE UP TO 5 INCHES OF SNOW. && .AVIATION... LOW PRESSURE OVER CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA WILL SLIDE SOUTHEAST TONIGHT. SNOW AT KDIK WILL CONTINUE THROUGH 12Z. SNOW IN VICINITY OF KISN AT/AFTER 07Z. LIGHT TO MODERATE SNOW EXPECTED AT KBIS AFTER 07Z. LIGHT SNOW WILL SPREAD EAST INTO KMOT/KJMS BY AROUND 09Z TONIGHT AND CONTINUE THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING. EXPECT MVFR CEILINGS AND VISIBILITIES WITH PERIODS OF IFR AS THE SNOW MOVES THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING AT KISN/KDIK....MVFR AT KMOT/KBIS/KJMS. SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS TAKE CONTROL THURSDAY AFTERNOON WITH MVFR TO LOW VFR CEILINGS. && .BIS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL NOON CST /11 AM MST/ TODAY FOR NDZ031>034-040>047-050. && SHORT TERM...JV AVIATION...WAA/JV
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND 406 PM CST WED FEB 22 2012 NDZ001>005-009>013-017>023-025-035>037-048-051-232215- DIVIDE-BURKE-RENVILLE-BOTTINEAU-ROLETTE-WILLIAMS-MOUNTRAIL-WARD- MCHENRY-PIERCE-MCKENZIE-DUNN-MERCER-OLIVER-MCLEAN-SHERIDAN-WELLS- FOSTER-BURLEIGH-KIDDER-STUTSMAN-LA MOURE-DICKEY- 406 PM CST WED FEB 22 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA...NORTHWEST NORTH DAKOTA...SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA...SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA AND SOUTHWEST NORTH DAKOTA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT A RAIN AND SNOW MIX WILL CHANGE OVER TO ALL SNOW ACROSS WESTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA. SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 INCH OR LESS IS EXPECTED THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR A SIGNIFICANT WINTER STORM AFFECTING WESTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA SATURDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT. PLEASE CHECK BACK FOR FUTURE UPDATES. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. NDZ031>034-040>047-050-232215- GOLDEN VALLEY-BILLINGS-STARK-MORTON-SLOPE-HETTINGER-GRANT-BOWMAN- ADAMS-SIOUX-EMMONS-LOGAN-MCINTOSH- 406 PM CST WED FEB 22 2012 /306 PM MST WED FEB 22 2012/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA...SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA AND SOUTHWEST NORTH DAKOTA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR SOUTHWESTERN AND PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING. RAIN EARLY WEDNESDAY EVENING WILL MIX WITH AND CHANGE OVER TO SNOW BEFORE MIDNIGHT. SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 2 TO 4 INCHES ARE EXPECTED THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING. PLEASE REFER TO WWW.WEATHER.GOV/BIS FOR FURTHER DETAILS AND UPDATES. AN ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM OR THUNDER SNOW IS POSSIBLE OVER SOUTHWEST NORTH DAKOTA THROUGH EARLY WEDNESDAY NIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR A SIGNIFICANT WINTER STORM AFFECTING WESTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA SATURDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT. PLEASE CHECK BACK FOR FUTURE UPDATES. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO CONTACT THE BISMARCK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WITH THEIR SNOWFALL TOTALS BY CALLING 1-800-247-0212. KS
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
934 PM CST WED FEB 22 2012
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0930 PM SNOW RHAME 46.23N 103.66W
02/22/2012 E4.0 INCH BOWMAN ND BROADCAST MEDIA
WET SLUSHY SNOW
&&
MMATHEWSThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Eight to eleven inches of snow fell around Glen Ullin and New Salem. Interstate 94 was closed for part of the morning due to an accident near Almont.
Up to 14 inches of snow was reported near Carson.
An estimated six inches of snow fell across portions of western and northern Sioux County.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Dakota in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in North Dakota, February 2012
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: 358504, 358505, 364282.