Winter 2008-2009: A Seasonal Summary

The Grand Forks National Weather Service has published the Preliminary Climate Summary for the meteorological winter months of December 2008 to February 2009. Basically, the Red River Valley region has just had one of the coldest and snowiest winter seasons in quite a few years.

Although it was not a record breaking cold winter season, it was consistently cold. Fargo experienced the 4th snowiest December - February period on record, most of that due to the exceptionally snowy December 2008.

Based on preliminary data, it was the 5th snowiest for the Grand Forks Airport and the UND/NWS Climate Station, as with Fargo, due in large part to the very snowy December 2008. For the Fargo area, the 3.64 inches of liquid was the 3rd wettest December - February period on record. 3.81 inches of liquid equivalent fell in the winter of 1896 -1897. Precipitation in the northern Red River Valley, although above the long term normals, was not in the top 10 wettest.