Six zones experienced D2 or higher drought in the month of December.
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.
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 FGF wrote it up.
Six zones experienced D2 or higher drought in the month of December.
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, 11:31 PM CST, 29 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Grand Forks ND 1131 PM CST Tue Dec 31 2024 .KEY MESSAGES... - Pattern shift on the way with much colder air on the way. There is 40-70% chance any given day Friday Jan 3rd to 10th a portion of the forecast area of reaches -30F (Cold Advisory Criteria) - Dry weather prevails with the next potential snow maker this weekend. && .UPDATE Issued at 1014 PM CST Tue Dec 31 2024 500 mb circulation noted in SE Manitoba. Flurries over NE ND into NW MN and likely to continue thru the night. There remains a mix of clouds and some clear areas and this will continue as well. Temps on the downhill slide with single digits Cando- Langdon to 20 in Elbow Lake MN. Webcams and obs indicate forecast is reasonable and no changes needed. UPDATE Issued at 709 PM CST Tue Dec 31 2024 Clouds and scattered flurries over the area. There are some clear holes however. I will leave the scattered flurries all night and predominate mostly cloudy sky. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 238 PM CST Tue Dec 31 2024 ...Synopsis... There are positives and negatives to this forecast and I'm not just talking about the temperature forecast. Fog has finally left the forecast for the foreseeable future with the passing of the recent cold front so it will be notably less dreary and you'll finally be able to verify the sun does exist. Although we swing to the other end of extremes as we fall back into the typical freezer that one might expect for the region in January. Stratus will at least intermittently hang on for the next couple days keeping us marginally warmer at night than we otherwise could be (lows in the single digits above/below zero) rather than lows in the -10s. - Cold Air Intrudes With current zonal flow aloft becoming spilt by the weekend there will be a brief window for increased precipitation chances in the northern plains this weekend (more on that later) before north/northwest low level flow begins to dominate for Friday and beyond. With air that is currently locked away in the arctic circle forecast to follow this shift in flow south by this weekend there is increasing confidence in air temps in the -10s this weekend and wind chills in the -30s or worse. A developing low in the southern plains by the late weekend will cut off low level flow and allow for a stacked ridge over the northern plains and prime radiational cooling conditions likely making Sunday the coldest day of the arctic outbreak. Cold air then remains in the area well into next week with a 40-70% chance any given day of a -30F wind chill 40-70% this Friday through next (January 10th). Sprinkle in a few areas reaching a -40F wind chill and this will be a pretty "average" January cold spell. For context a low of -18F would be about 1 std deviation below normal for Jan 5th (Sunday) with the current forecast calling for -15F Sunday morning. - Weekend Snow Chances As mentioned above a short window of spilt flow aloft late week into the weekend may allow for some snow in central North Dakota. The main uncertainty lies currently in where. Clusters are favoring a track of the potential low through the eastern Dakotas only clipping our far west with up to an inch of snow, but if the cluster minority proves the eventual correct solution with a slightly more eastern track of the low a few inches of snow could be seen in places from Valley city to Gwinner. This scenario remains the outlier however, with only a few flakes likely as forcing looks to be well displaced to the west. There could be some lingering implications however should the majority of the area receive little additional snow prior to this cold snap with now greatly reduced snowpack compared to this time last week. Ground with no snow cover compared to ground with snow cover (1" or more) typically results in temperatures being 10 degrees warmer than they otherwise could/would be with a snowpack. && .AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z THURSDAY/... Issued at 1130 PM CST Tue Dec 31 2024 Predominately a broken MVFR cloud deck over the area thru Wednesday...though some signs it may turn into a lower end VFR deck at least within the Red River valley by 18z. Flurries at times, mainly NW MN. But it seems to except at TVF, a situation where more time no -sn than with so kept it out. Vsbys had been unrestricted anyhow. WNW winds 10-15 kts. && .FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ND...None. MN...None. && UPDATE...Riddle DISCUSSION...TT AVIATION...Riddle
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Grand Forks ND 225 PM CST Tue Dec 31 2024 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-Eddy-Nelson-Grand Forks- Griggs-Steele-Traill-Barnes-Cass-Ransom-Sargent-Richland- Western Walsh- 225 PM CST Tue Dec 31 2024 This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of eastern North Dakota, west central and northwest Minnesota. .DAY ONE...This Afternoon and Tonight The probability for widespread hazardous weather is low. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday Wind chills dipping below -30F by Friday within the Devils Lake Basin. Wind chills below -30F expanding across much of eastern North Dakota and Northwest Minnesota for the weekend into next week. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not anticipated today.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
6 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Southern Beltrami county was in D2 drought for the entire month of January in 2025.
Southern Beltrami county was in D2 drought for the entire month of January in 2025.
Southern Beltrami county was in D2 drought for the entire month of January in 2025.
Southern Beltrami county was in D2 drought for the entire month of January in 2025.
Southern Beltrami county was in D2 drought for the entire month of January in 2025.
Southern Beltrami county was in D2 drought for the entire month of January in 2025.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Minnesota in 2025Every state in 2025This day in weather historyWarnings in Minnesota, January 2025
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: 1239066, 1239067, 1239068, 1239069, 1239070, 1239071.