A large grass fire occurred over northern Hettinger and southern Stark counties on March 19th. Up to 5,000 acres were burned and two farmsteads were destroyed.
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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.
A large grass fire occurred over northern Hettinger and southern Stark counties on March 19th. Up to 5,000 acres were burned and two farmsteads were destroyed. One of the farmsteads was abandoned and the other was occupied. One landowner was treated for burns at a hospital and a deputy sheriff was treated for smoke inhalation. The fire caused a traffic accident on highway 22 and there were no injuries in that accident. There was no loss of life. The fire was driven by strong southerly winds up to 45 miles per hour, along with low relative humidities of ten to 15 percent.
There were three grass fires in Williams County that same day. One, southwest of Williston, near Trenton, burned 1,700 hay bales.
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 Mar 19, 2:31 PM CST, 29 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND 331 PM CDT MON MAR 19 2012 .SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT... CONCERNS TODAY INCLUDE...WINDS...THUNDERSTORMS...AND FIRE WEATHER ISSUES. FIRST...CLOUD COVER SO FAR THIS AFTERNOON HAS LIMITED THE MIXING POTENTIAL...AND FORECAST SOUNDINGS TODAY DO NOT MIX AS HIGH AS YESTERDAYS FORECAST. WILL CANCEL THE HIGH WIND WARNING AS CRITERIA WILL NOT BE MET...BUT EXPECT WIND ADVISORY CRITERIA UNTIL EARLY EVENING SOUTHWEST AND NORTHWEST. ELSEWHERE WILL CANCEL THE WIND ADVISORY TOO...CENTRAL AND EAST. WHILE THE WINDS ARE NOT AS STRONG AS FORECAST THE RELATIVE HUMIDITY WILL DROP INTO THE TEENS WEST AND CENTRAL TODAY...AS DEW POINTS HAVE BEEN FALLING AT MINOT AND BISMARCK. SIMILAR AIR MASS ON TUESDAY...BUT COOLER EAST. THIS WILL BE A DRY SYSTEM FOR ALL BUT THE FAR EAST. WILL SEE EVENING SHOWERS AND A SLIGHT CHANCE OF A THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE JAMES RIVER VALLEY. ON TUESDAY...MODEL SOUNDINGS SHOW A WELL MIXED LAYER TO 5000 FEET AT DICKINSON...WILLISTON...AND MINOT. BISMARCK AND JAMESTOWN WILL NOT BE AS WINDY. SUNNY BUT COOLER AND DRY TUESDAY. HIGHS STILL 10 TO 15 ABOVE NORMAL WITH HIGH IN THE 50S. OVERNIGHT LOWS TUESDAY NIGHT IN THE 30S TO UPPER 20S FAR WEST. LONG TERM...WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY... THE EXTENDED SUITE IN PRETTY GOOD AGREEMENT IN HANDLING A CLOSED LOW EJECTING OUT FROM TEXAS WEDNESDAY INTO THE TENNESSEE/OHIO VALLEY THURSDAY INTO FRIDAY. BROAD RIDGING/SOUTHWEST FLOW TAKES CONTROL FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY WITH DISTURBANCES TOPPING THE RIDGE RESULTING IN SOME CHANCES OF PRECIPITATION MAINLY OVER CENTRAL AND NORTHERN NORTH DAKOTA. FOR WEDNESDAY...DRY...SPLIT FLOW WITH A WEST TO SOUTHWEST FLOW VIA THE NORTHERN BRANCH. LACK OF ANY SIGNIFICANT SHORTWAVES WITHIN THE UPPER FLOW WILL LEAD TO A MOSTLY SUNNY AND WARM DAY WITH HIGHS FROM THE UPPER 50S NORTH TO MID 60S SOUTH. FOR THURSDAY AND FRIDAY...CLOSED UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE IN THE SOUTHERN STREAM MOVES FROM NORTHERN TEXAS INTO SOUTHEAST KANSAS FRIDAY. LIGHT PRECIPITATION IS FORECAST TO WRAP AROUND THE LOW AND INTO SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA THURSDAY AFTERNOON. THIS PRECIPITATION AREA WILL THEN SPILL A BIT FURTHER NORTHWEST THURSDAY NIGHT INTO FRIDAY MORNING. THE GFS SHOVES THE LIGHT PRECIPITATION AREA ALL THE WAY INTO NORTHERN NORTH DAKOTA WHEREAS THE ECMWF KEEPS IT CONFINED TO SOUTH CENTRAL AND EAST CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA. FOR FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY...BROAD RIDGING AND SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT TAKE CONTROL. A FRONTAL SYSTEM MOVING EAST FROM MONTANA IS FORECAST TO STALL ACROSS SOUTHERN NORTH DAKOTA SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. WITH DISTURBANCES RIDING OVER THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY EXPECT SOME CHANCES OF PRECIPITATION...MAINLY NORTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA AS MENTIONED ABOVE. HIGH TEMPERATURES LOOK TO REMAIN IN THE 60S ACROSS THE SOUTH...WITH SLIGHTLY COOLER AIR NORTH OF THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY/NORTHERN NORTH DAKOTA WITH HIGHS IN THE UPPER 40S TO LOWER 50S. && .AVIATION...LATEST REGIONAL RADAR SHOWS LIGHT SHOWERS FROM NEAR KBIS EAST TO KJMS. THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD REMAIN JUST EAST OF KJMS THROUGH 00Z TUESDAY...BUT WITH SOME UNCERTAINTY WILL CONTINUE WITH THE VCTS MENTION AND ADJUST IF SOMETHING DEVELOPS. OTHERWISE GUSTY SOUTH TO SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE EVENING BETWEEN 25KT AND 35KT...WITH THE STRONGEST WINDS AT KISN AND KDIK. A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH WESTERN NORTH DAKOTA MID TO LATE MONDAY AFTERNOON THEN THEN ACROSS CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA EARLY MONDAY EVENING. VFR CEILINGS AND VISIBILITIES ARE EXPECTED AHEAD OF THE FRONT. SOME LOWER CEILINGS TO AROUND 3500FT TO 4000FT AGL WILL OCCUR AT KISN AND KDIK AFTER FRONTAL PASSAGE. && .FIRE WEATHER...RED FLAG WARNING CONTINUES MONDAY AFTERNOON ND EVENING. WINDS NOT AS STRONG BUT ENOUGH WITH MINIMUM RH VALUES IN THE LOW 20S. ON TUESDAY...HAVE UPDATED THE FIRE WEATHER WATCH TO A RED FLAG WARNING ALREADY FOR THE WEST AND NORTH. DRY VEGETATION... MINIMUM RH VALUES AROUND 15 TO 25 PERCENT AND WINDS 15 TO 30 MPH. WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO BE MUCH LESS SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST. NEW SOIL TEMPERATURES WEST AND CENTRAL NOW WELL INTO UPPER 30S TO MID 40S TOP 8 INCHES. MAY BEGIN TO SEE A STARTING OF THE GREENUP IN THE NEXT WEEK. && .BIS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... RED FLAG WARNING UNTIL 9 PM CDT /8 PM MDT/ THIS EVENING FOR NDZ001>005-009>013-017>023-031>036-040>047-050. RED FLAG WARNING FROM 1 PM CDT /NOON MDT/ TO 9 PM CDT /8 PM MDT/ TUESDAY FOR NDZ001>005-009>013-017>022-031>033-040-041-043. WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 9 PM CDT /8 PM MDT/ THIS EVENING FOR NDZ001- 002-009-010-017-018-031>033-040-041-043-044. && SHORT TERM...WAA LONG TERM....KS AVIATION...KS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND 546 AM CDT MON MAR 19 2012 NDZ017-018-031>033-040-041-043-044-201100- MCKENZIE-DUNN-GOLDEN VALLEY-BILLINGS-STARK-SLOPE-HETTINGER-BOWMAN- ADAMS- 546 AM CDT MON MAR 19 2012 /446 AM MDT MON MAR 19 2012/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHWEST NORTH DAKOTA AND SOUTHWEST NORTH DAKOTA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT HIGH WIND WARNING IN EFFECT 9 AM MDT TO 8 PM MDT. EXTREME FIRE DANGER WITH RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT NOON MDT TO 8 PM MDT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY FIRE WEATHER WATCH IN EFFECT TUESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH EARLY TUESDAY EVENING WITH VERY HIGH FIRE DANGER. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. NDZ001>005-009>013-019>023-034>036-042-045>047-050-201100- DIVIDE-BURKE-RENVILLE-BOTTINEAU-ROLETTE-WILLIAMS-MOUNTRAIL-WARD- MCHENRY-PIERCE-MERCER-OLIVER-MCLEAN-SHERIDAN-WELLS-MORTON- BURLEIGH-KIDDER-GRANT-SIOUX-EMMONS-LOGAN-MCINTOSH- 546 AM CDT MON MAR 19 2012 /446 AM MDT MON MAR 19 2012/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA...NORTHWEST NORTH DAKOTA...SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA AND SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT 9 AM MDT/10 AM CDT TO 8 PM MDT/9 PM CDT. VERY HIGH AND EXTREME FIRE DANGER WITH RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT NOON MDT/1 PM CDT TO 8 PM MDT/9 PM CDT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY FIRE WEATHER WATCH IN EFFECT TUESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH EARLY TUESDAY EVENING WITH VERY HIGH FIRE DANGER FOR WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. NDZ025-037-201100- FOSTER-STUTSMAN- 546 AM CDT MON MAR 19 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT 9 AM CDT TO 8 PM CDT. CHANCE OF AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. NDZ048-051-201100- LA MOURE-DICKEY- 546 AM CDT MON MAR 19 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT CHANCE OF AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. JV
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
The grass fire started north of New England in northern Hettinger County, and burned north, on southerly winds, into southern Stark County. The fire traveled at least five miles. There were two injuries and two farmsteads were destroyed.
The grass fire started north of New England in northern Hettinger County, and burned north, on southerly winds, into southern Stark County. The fire traveled at least five miles.
Three grass fires were fought in Williams County with one, southwest of Williston, near Trenton, burning 1,700 hay bales. No injuries or deaths were reported.
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, March 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: 371543, 371544, 371772.