The Associated Press
BISMARCK (AP) -- The mercury hit 106 degrees here Monday, tying a 106-year-old record, while in the northwestern part of the state, a storm pummeled the Williston airport and dropped a record amount of rain.
The National Weather Service warned of fire danger in the far southwestern part of the state because of the heat and wind. Bismarck and Dickinson each reported highs of 106 degrees on Monday afternoon.
Bismarck tied the mark set on the same date in 1901, the National Weather Service said, while Dickinson's high was 2 degrees short of a record.
Minot set a record of 103 degrees, four degrees warmer than the mark in 1980, and Williston climbed to 100 degrees after a thunderstorm struck the airport early in the day.
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Wind gusts of up to 75 mph, shortly before 4:30 a.m., damaged six hangars and five single- and twin-engine airplanes, Williston airport manager Rick Marburger said.
"Two of the hangars were completely blown apart," Williams County Emergency Services Director Ed Lodwig said. "It looks like a straight wind that came through (the airport). There are trailer courts in the area, and they reported no damage."
Marburger said fuel tanks at the airport also were damaged but none leaked.
"A large portion of a hangar blew in through to the tank farm, wiped out the security fence and broke some fittings," he said.
Marburger said the airport was operating normally, but with a large mess to clean up. A damage estimate was not immediately available.
The National Weather Service said the storm dropped a record 1.33 inches of rain on Williston. The city's previous record for July 23 was 1.14 inches, set in 1912.
Heat during the summertime contributes to thunderstorm activity, though the severity of storms is not necessarily related to the intensity of the heat, said Janine Vining, a weather service meteorologist in Bismarck.
The extreme heat in parts of North Dakota that settled in over the weekend continued Monday, with the weather service posting a heat advisory for the southwest and south central parts of the state.
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Forecasters said high temperatures and humidity could make it feel like up to 115 degrees in some areas.
"It's not a real temperature, but it's a way of telling people that it's dangerous to be outside in that type of weather," said meteorologist Bill Abeling, at the National Weather Service office in Bismarck.
"Once you get above about 95 degrees, the biggest component in the heat index is the moisture," Abeling said. "The moisture plays a huge role, because the moisture in your skin doesn't evaporate as quickly as when the air is drier. That's what cools the skin, is the evaporation."
West Fargo officials postponed a dog show scheduled for Tuesday because of the heat.
The state Health Department issued hot weather safety tips, advising people to drink plenty of fluids, stay indoors and protect themselves from the sun.
Bonnie Lund, a spokeswoman in Fargo for Xcel Energy, said the company had some heat-related outages in Minot over the weekend after a handful of transformers failed. An underground cable that failed Monday, causing an outage to about 1,400 Minot customers for a half hour, also likely was heat-related, she said.
Dan Sharp, a spokesman for Montana-Dakota Utilities, which serves central and western North Dakota, said MDU reported a peak demand late Monday afternoon but expected no problems.
"We haven't had any incidents related to weather at all," he said. "We're a summer peaking company. We expect our peak demand to occur sometime during the summer. We build our electric system to accommodate that peak."
