January

National Weather Service Grand Forks

Weather & Climate Review

January-February 2020

Temperature

Table 1 January Temperature and Precipitation Statistics

Figure 1

January Daily

Departure from

Normal

Temperatures at

Park Rapids, MN

Blue Bars = Colder than Normal Days & Red Bars = Warmer than Normal Days

Precipitation

Figure 2 CPC Temp Outlook Figure 3 Observed Temp Figure 5 Observed Pcpn

The January temperature (Figure 2) and precipitation (Figure 4) outlooks issued by the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) in late De-

cember are shown above. Compare these with the observed January departures from normal temperatures (Figure 3) and precipi-

tation (Figure 5).

Table 1 shows the January average temperature (AveT), departure from normal temperature (TDept), precipitation (Pcpn), depar-

ture from normal precipitation (PDept), and snowfall (Snow) for our 5 main climate sites (Devils Lake (DVL), NWS Grand Forks (NWS

GF), Fargo (FAR), Baudette (BDE), and Park Rapids (PKD)). The January average temperature was above normal at all five sites, but

Baudette and Park Rapids were the highest. Precipitation amounts were slightly below normal at both NWS Grand Forks and Fargo.

Figure 1 plots the daily departure from normal temperatures in January 2020 at Park Rapids, MN. Other than a few colder than nor-

mal days (blue bars) from the 7th to 20th, quite a few days were warmer than normal (red bars).

No daily or monthly temperature, precipitation, or snowfall records were set in January 2020 at Fargo.

Figure 6 Monthly Departures from

Normal Temps at Fargo, ND

Figure 7 Monthly Departures from

Normal Pcpn at Fargo, ND

Figure 6 shows that January 2020 broke the string of three consecu-

tive months (Oct-Nov-Dec) of below normal temperatures at Fargo.

Figure 7 shows that January 2020 also broke the string of five con-

secutive months of above normal precipitation at Fargo. However, in

reality, November 2019 and January 2020 were actually pretty close

to normal.

Looking at just the Fargo climate site (FAR), Figures 6 and 7 show how January 2020 fits into the previous 5 months.

Figure 6 plots the monthly departures from normal temperatures at Fargo. The blue bars represent months that were

colder than normal, while the red bars represent months that were warmer than normal. Figure 7 plots the monthly

departures from normal precipitation at Fargo. The green bars represent months that were wetter than normal, while the brown

bars represent months that were drier than normal.

Records

6 Month

Trend

A EC EC

Figure 4 CPC Pcpn Outlook

As far as high impact weather goes, there was one High Wind Warning, one Wind Chill Warning, One Winter

Storm Warning, and one Blizzard Warning issued in January 2020 (Figures 8-12).

Figure 8 January 5

Warnings

Winter

Figure 9 January 15-16

Figure 11 Snow Totals (January 17-18)

Figure 10 January 17-18 Figure 12 January 17-18

High

Wind

Warning

Peak Wind Speeds:

Devils Lake 46 mph

Grand Forks airport 50 mph

Fargo airport 43 mph

Lowest Wind Chills:

40 below to 55 below zero

Winter

Storm

Warning

Blizzard

Warning

Wind

Chill

Warning

The latest Climate Prediction Center (CPC) temperature (Figure 13) and

precipitation (Figure 14) outlooks for February are shown to the left. For

eastern North Dakota and the northwest quarter of Minnesota, the CPC is

forecasting equal chances for above, normal, or below normal tempera-

tures. For most of the area, higher probabilities for above normal precipi-

tation are forecast. Figure 13 Temperature Figure 14 Precipitation

February

So what are normal temperatures in February? Figure 22 shows normal highs and lows on February 1st for selected cities across

eastern North Dakota and northwest Minnesota. Figure 23 shows how normal highs and lows change by February 28th. As an ex-

ample, at Grand Forks on February 1st, the normal high is 19 and the normal low is 0. By February 28th at Grand Forks, the normal

high rises to 27 and the normal low rises to 10. Figure 24 shows normal precipitation amounts at the same sites. As an example,

the normal precipitation at Grand Forks in February is 0.59 inches.

As a comparison to normal values, Figure 25 shows various observed data from last year (2019). As an example, in Fargo (FAR),

1.69 inches of precipitation (green box) and 21.4 inches of snow (blue box) fell. The highest temperature was 24 degrees (red num-

ber), while the lowest temperature was –27 degrees (blue number).

Figure 22 Normal Temps February 1 Figure 25 February 2019 Data

Last Year

&

Normals

February 2019 was a cold month. At Fargo, the average monthly temperature was 0.8 degrees, which was 13.8

degrees below normal. This just barely missed the top 10 coldest Februarys. February 2019 was also very active.

Two Wind Chill Warnings, two Blizzard Warnings, and three Winter Storm Warnings were issued for the area

(Figures 15-21).

Figure 15 February 3-4

Winter

Storm

Warning Winter

Storm

Warning

Figure 16 February 6-7

Blizzard

Warning

Figure 17 February 7 Figure 18 February 7-8

Figure 19 February 22-23

Winter

Storm

Warning

Blizzard

Warning

Figure 20 February 24

Wind

Chill

Warning

Figure 21 February 24-25

Figure 23 Normal Temps February 28 Figure 24 Normal February Pcpn

Wind

Chill

Warning

EC

Miscellaneous

Photographs

The winner of our January photo contest was Sherri Johnson, who submitted a photograph of a snowflake (Page 1, top right). Snow

continued to pile up in January 2020. The scenes below show the piles of snow around the Grand Forks, North Dakota, area.

Spring Flood Outlook

The first Spring Flood Outlook was released in late January 2020. Additional information on this topic can be found at:

https://www.weather.gov/fgf/CurrentFloodOutlook