Cold/Wind Chill in North Dakota

Events

641

Deaths

8

Injuries

2

Damage

$435,000

• Cold in North Dakota, February 19 to 20, 19961 death · 1 eventA 72 yr. old Linton resident died due to exposure. Authorities say the man accidently backed his pickup into a creek. He then waded in 3 ft. of ice cold water to a point about 30 ft. from the vehicle where he was able to get back to shore.
• Cold in North Dakota, January 26, 19961 death · 1 eventAn 84 year old Lehr man died of exposure when he went to visit the grave of his wife. The man was found 1 mile from his house. Temperatures that day were around 20 below, and wind chills were estimated to be around 60 below.
• Cold in North Dakota, January 29, 19961 death · 1 eventA 57 year old Bismarck man died from a heart attack while operating a snow blower. The day before the man died, the Bismarck area received 5 inches of snow. On the day he died, high temperatures were in the teens below zero with wind chills from 40 to 60 below.
• Cold in North Dakota, December 24, 19961 death · 1 eventA 41 yr. old female died of exposure in Williston. Her body was found only a few feet from the front door of her house. It is believed that she died sometime during the early morning hours of Tuesday, December 24. The morning low that morning in Williston was 19 below.
• Cold in North Dakota, November 21, 19961 death · 1 eventA 79 yr. old Crosby farmer died of exposure when his pickup got stuck on a gravel road 5.5 miles east of Crosby. Authorities speculate that when the truck ran out of gas, the farmer left the safety of his pickup in search for help. His body was found 2.5 miles west of his truck.
• Cold in North Dakota, February 5, 20031 death · 1 eventA women, age unknown, left her home walking to the grocery store. She took refuge in an abandon house with no electricity or heat. She died of hypothermia. No other information was available.
• Cold in North Dakota, February 13, 20031 death · 1 eventA young woman died of hperthermia approxiately several days before finding her body in a open field near her home. Time of death is unknown. The young woman was intoxicated when she left her home.
• Cold in North Dakota, December 21 to 22, 20081 death · 1 eventThis was a two day subset of a prolonged cold snap across North Dakota. Temperatures on the 21st at Garrison ranged from a high of ten below zero to a low of 21 below. On the 22nd the low was 25 below.
• Cold in North Dakota, March 8 to 9, 2003$360,000 · 18 eventsA fairly compact ridge of high pressure brought clear skies and brisk west/northwest winds to eastern North Dakota. High temperatures on the 8th were only in the single digits above and below zero.
• Cold in North Dakota, February 1, 199653 eventsDangerously cold weather once again hit North Dakota. The town of Rolette(Rolette Co.) in north central North Dakota reported a morning low of 53 below. Many places reported lows from 35 to 45 below. Fargo tied its record low of 39 below.
• Cold in North Dakota, January 13 to 16, 200945 eventsVery cold arctic air sank into the Northern Plains in mid January 2009. The light winds of 5 to 15 mph at times caused wind chills to run 40 to 60 below zero across much of eastern North Dakota. Wind chills fell to 40 to 50 below zero Tuesday evening into Wednesday.
• Cold in North Dakota, June 3, 1998$75,000 · 1 eventBeekeepers lost honey production when an early June cold snap destroyed 75% of the alfalfa crop. Low temperatures reached the mid 20s while normal lows are in the mid 40s.
• Cold in North Dakota, December 25, 199636 eventsThe blizzard of the 16th-18th left in its wake very cold air. Williston set a new state record low of 32 below the morning of the 25th, and Bismarck set a new record low high temperature for the date, with the mercury struggling to 10 below for a high.
• Cold in North Dakota, January 27 to 28, 200436 eventsAn approaching arctic high pressure system over southern Canada and exiting low pressure system over the northern plains broughtextremely cold temperatures and bitter wind chills to western and central North Dakota.
• Cold in North Dakota, January 4 to 5, 200436 eventsA strong arctic high pressure system over British Columbia Canada moved southeast into the northern plains Sunday, the 4th ofJanuary and brought extremely cold temperatures and gusty winds to western and central North Dakota.
• Cold in North Dakota, January 13 to 15, 200536 eventsAn arctic high pressure system dropped southeast out of central Canada on the evening of the 13th of January. The system brought bitter cold temperatures to western and central North Dakota the night of the 13th.
• Cold in North Dakota, February 16 to 18, 200636 eventsTemperatures were in the 15 to 25 degree below zero range with wind speeds of 15 to 25 mph resulting in wind chills mainly in the 40s below. The lowest wind chills were -55 in Rolette County and -50 in Foster, Kidder, and Mountrail counties.
• Cold in North Dakota, January 12 to 15, 202436 eventsA prolonged Arctic outbreak brought widespread frigid temperatures and gusty winds to North Dakota, resulting in life-threating wind chills.
• Cold in North Dakota, January 18 to 21, 202536 eventsA frigid Arctic airmass settled over the area bringing very low wind chill values over northwest and central North Dakota, which was followed by an even colder Arctic airmass, resulting in extremely cold wind chill values throughout all of western and central North Dakota.
• Heavy Snow and Cold in North Dakota, February 4 to 5, 202226 eventsA clipper system pushed across the northern portions of the Red River Valley, bringing light to moderate snow and frigid wind chills.
• Blizzard and Cold in North Dakota, December 22 to 23, 202221 eventsA significant storm with blizzard conditions and dangerous wind chills came through the area in the days leading up to Christmas. Wind chills as low or lower than -50F and whiteout conditions were reported across Minnesota and North Dakota for 2 days.
• Cold in North Dakota, March 8, 20032 injured · 2 eventsTwo young adults, one female, the other male, were hospitalized for severe frostbite to the hands and feet Saturday eveningof March 8th.
• Cold in North Dakota, January 26 to 31, 200418 eventsArctic high pressure built into the northern plains in the wake of the January 24th-26th snowstorm, which dropped heavy snow over all of eastern North Dakota.
• Cold in North Dakota, June 23 to 24, 200418 eventsAn upper level low pressure system parked near Hudson Bay helped produce unusually cold weather for mid June. On the morning of the 23rd, the NDAWN station 5 miles west of Cavalier reported 32 degrees, the NDAWN station 2 miles west-southwest of St.
• Cold in North Dakota, August 19 to 21, 200418 eventsPatchy frost occurred over portions of the area throughout these 3 mornings, which was not normal for August. As patchy frost also occurred on June 23rd and 24th, the only summer month that didn't have frost was July.

Cold/Wind Chill everywhereEvery kind of event in North Dakota

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.