Jamestown area receives more than 2 inches of snow Feb. 21-23

JAMESTOWN — Jamestown received more than 2 inches of snow from Tuesday through 6 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 21-23, according to measurements taken at the North Dakota State Hospital.

The moisture content of the snow was 0.07 inches for each day.

“Because of these extremely cold temperatures that we are dealing with, there was very little moisture content in this snow,” said Michael Hollan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Bismarck. “It didn’t take as much moisture for the snow to accumulate more than we would typically see.”

The snowfall in the Jamestown area diminished by early Thursday afternoon. Hollan said Thursday morning the Jamestown area could receive around another inch of snow.

The National Weather Service in Bismarck issued a wind chill advisory at about noon Thursday for Dickey, Emmons, Kidder, LaMoure, Logan and Stutsman counties. The advisory remains in effect until noon Friday, Feb. 24.

The North Dakota Department of Transportation and the North Dakota Highway Patrol opened all lanes of Interstate 94 between Bismarck and Fargo by early Thursday afternoon.

Travel alerts were in place as of 5:15 p.m. Thursday for Barnes, Cass Dickey, Emmons, Foster, Kidder, LaMoure, Logan, McIntosh, Ransom, Richland, Sargent, Steele and Stutsman counties. A travel alert means conditions are such that motorists can still travel in these areas but should be advised of rapidly changing winter driving conditions.

Stutsman County Sheriff Chad Kaiser said Thursday morning that the roads in the rural areas had blowing and drifting snow and were getting full, depending on the area. He said the winds were “terrible.”

He said the Stutsman County Sheriff’s Office did not receive any calls for service Wednesday evening into Thursday morning related to the weather. He said it helped that I-94 was closed early on Wednesday, although there was an accident near milepost 255 shortly before the closure.

The roads in Jamestown were “icy but drivable,” according to Maj. Justin Blinsky, assistant chief of police with the Jamestown Police Department. He said Thursday morning that almost all of the intersections in Jamestown were icy.

He said some roads might have been blocked in the outer areas of Jamestown where there are fewer obstructions due to the winds.

Hollan said the Jamestown area was expected to have wind chills anywhere from minus 20 to minus 35 Thursday through Friday morning. He said wind chills Thursday in the Jamestown area were as low as minus 40.

The Jamestown area can expect to see temperatures increasing to the 20s on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 25-26, and maybe even in the low 30s by Monday, Feb. 27, he said.

For precipitation, the Jamestown area could see some very light snow on Friday, Hollan said.

He said there is a low probability of snowfall Sunday evening into Monday with the storm system likely impacting areas to the south and east of Jamestown.