City gets 5 inches: Heavier snowfall reported to the east, south

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A man uses a snow blower to clear a driveway Monday in southwest Jamestown.
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Snow clings to siding and a light Monday in southwest Jamestown.
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Semis were lined up Monday in the Walmart parking lot in Jamestown after the closing of eastbound Interstate 94 Sunday. The gates opened around 10 a.m. Monday.
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Despite winter weather, a Jamestown College student wears shorts while attending classes Monday.
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A man shovels snow Monday outside a residence in Jamestown. Snow cleanup started early Monday with residents digging out after a weekend storm dumped 5 inches in the area.

Talk about it

The weekend’s winter weather was the season’s worst so far, but it was less intense here than in other parts of the region, according to local officials.

“It was the worst storm of the season but we dodged a bullet,” said Reed Schwartzkopf, Jamestown city engineer. “The storm broke up and we didn’t get the snowfall they had to the east and south.”

Jamestown received 5 inches of snow in the 24 hours ending at 6 a.m. Monday, according to measurements taken for the National Weather Service at the North Dakota State Hospital. The measurements also indicate the area has 10 inches of snow on the ground at this time.

The National Weather Service said Jamestown had received a total of 23.8 inches of snow since the start of the winter season Oct. 1. Normal snowfall for the winter in Jamestown amounts to 44.5 inches with 33.4 inches anticipated by this point in the winter, according to Lindsay Tardf-Huber, meteorologist for the NWS in Bismarck.

The storm closed Interstate 94 from Sunday evening through late Monday morning, which prevented The Sun’s Monday issue from being delivered on time. Many subscribers will not receive their Monday issues until today.

The snow caused few problems in rural Stutsman County.

“Out by Woodworth and Medina there wasn’t much snow,” said Mickey Nenow, Stutsman County road superintendent. “The Jamestown area had heavy snow in sheltered areas with some roads in the Montpelier area blocked.”

Stutsman County Sheriff Chad Kaiser noted that there were no major incidents during the storm.

“People actually stayed home,” he said.

He credited fewer travelers to the Sunday timing of the storm.

“We’d have seen more problems if it would have happened on a Friday or Saturday night,” he said.

Kaiser’s office reported two accidents in Stutsman County that were partially attributed to weather conditions Sunday. Neither involved injuries.

The problems were more severe in Dickey County. At 7 a.m. Monday, Charlie Russell, Dickey County emergency manager, issued a statement that all county and township roads in the county were impassable with drifts up to 4 feet. He estimated that Ellendale received 12 inches of snow with locally heavier amounts in southern and eastern Dickey County.

The North Dakota Highway Patrol reported rescuing one individual Sunday at about 7:15 p.m. near Verona in LaMoure County. The motorist had walked about 3 miles from his vehicle before being picked up by the patrol and a North Dakota Department of Transportation snowplow.

Stutsman County road crews began moving snow Monday morning. Nenow said the process would continue during daylight hours and likely would not involve crew overtime.

Jamestown crews had cleared the emergency and arterial routes by Monday morning, Schwartzkopf said. The crews then moved to residential areas and were scheduled to begin clearing the downtown area at 11 p.m. Monday.

Sun reporter Keith Norman can be reached at 701-952-8452 or by email at knorman@jamestownsun.com

Tags: news, winter, weather