April, 1997 Preliminary Local Climatological Data Fargo, ND National Weather Service |-Temperature-|--------Degree Days---------|-Precipitation-|-Snowfall-|----Wind----| (degrees F) (base 65 degrees F) (inches) (inches) (mph, deg) Heating Cooling Max Min Avg Dep HDD Seas Dep CDD Seas Dep Tot Tot Norm Tot Tot Avg Pk Dir from for for for for for Spd Gust at Norm Seas Seas Mon Mon Seas Pk Date | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 54 38 46 11 19 8929 705 0 0 0 0 0 0.05 0 109.6 19.5 43 170 2 44 32 38 2 27 8956 703 0 0 0 0 0 0.10 0 109.6 8.7 21 290 3 52 30 41 5 24 8980 698 0 0 0 0 0 0.15 0 109.6 13.1 28 170 4 48 37 43 6 22 9002 692 0 0 0 0.19 0.19 0.20 0 109.6 10.7 24 20 5 38 25 32 -5 33 9035 697 0 0 0 1.39 1.58 0.25 0 109.6 M M M 6 25 9 17 -21 48 9083 718 0 0 0 1.30 2.88 0.30 7.0 116.6 M M M 7 13 7 10 -29 55 9138 747 0 0 0 T 2.88 0.35 T 116.6 M M M 8 17 8 13 -26 52 9190 773 0 0 0 0.02 2.90 0.41 0.4 117.0 M M M 9 24 7 16 -24 49 9239 797 0 0 0 0 2.90 0.47 0 117.0 M M M 10 26 16 21 -19 44 9283 816 0 0 0 0 2.90 0.53 0 117.0 M M M 11 36 15 26 -15 39 9322 831 0 0 0 0 2.90 0.59 O.O 117.0 M M M 12 38 21 30 -11 35 9357 842 0 0 0 0 2.90 0.65 O.O 117.0 5.4 16 340 13 44 24 34 -8 31 9388 850 0 0 0 0 2.90 0.71 0.0 117.0 6.4 14 170 14 50 32 41 -1 24 9412 851 0 0 0 0 2.90 0.77 0.0 117.0 16.5 31 180 15 40 27 34 -9 31 9443 860 0 0 0 0 2.90 0.83 0 117.0 18.7 31 310 16 36 24 30 -14 35 9478 874 0 0 0 0 2.90 0.89 0 117.0 11.0 23 340 17 51 24 38 -6 27 9505 880 0 0 0 0 2.90 0.95 0 117.0 14.7 30 170 18 63 41 52 7 13 9518 873 0 0 0 T 2.90 1.01 0 117.0 7.4 17 170 19 59 37 48 3 17 9535 870 0 0 0 0 2.90 1.07 0 117.0 6.1 14 350 25 63 38 51 3 14 9633 858 0 0 0 0 2.93 1.47 0 117.0 5.8 15 300 26 66 46 56 8 9 9642 850 0 0 0 0.10 3.03 1.54 0 117.0 9.2 31 200 27 55 39 47 -2 18 9660 852 0 0 0 0.03 3.06 1.61 0 117.0 8.1 20 300 28 69 37 53 4 12 9672 848 0 0 0 0.06 3.12 1.68 0 117.0 15.9 41 240 29 53 32 43 -7 22 9694 855 0 0 0 0 3.12 1.75 0 117.0 16.3 30 340 30 47 31 39 -11 26 9720 866 0 0 0 0 3.12 1.82 0 117.0 14.9 28 10 APRIL CLIMATOLOGICAL REPORT FOR FARGO ND TEMPERATURE DATA...... (DEGREES F) AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE.... 37.8 OR 5.2 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL AVERAGE MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE.... 46.7 AVERAGE MINIMUM TEMPERATURE.... 28.9 HIGHEST TEMPERATURE WAS 69 ON DAY 28 LOWEST TEMPERATURE WAS 7 ON DAY 9 HEATING DEGREE DAYS (BASE 65) COOLING DEGREE DAYS MONTHLY TOTAL ........... 810 MONTHLY TOTAL .......... 0 DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL.... 150 DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL... 0 SEASONAL TOTAL (JUL-JUN). 9720 SEASONAL TOTAL (JAN-DEC) 0 DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL.... 866 DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL... 0 PRECIPITATION DATA.... ..RAIN.. TOTAL FOR THE MONTH......... 3.12 OR 1.30 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL TOTAL SINCE JANUARY 1ST..... 7.39 OR 3.39 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL ..SNOW.. TOTAL FOR THE MONTH......... 7.4 TOTAL FOR THE SEASON........ 117.0 ..NUMBER OF DAYS.. WITH .01 INCHES OR MORE 8 HIGHS 32 DEGREES OR COLDER 5 WITH .10 INCHES OR MORE 4 HIGHS 90 DEGREES OR WARMER 0 WITH .50 INCHES OR MORE 2 LOWS 32 DEGREES OR COLDER 17 WITH 1.00 INCHES OR MORE 2 LOWS 0 DEGREES OR COLDER 0 WIND DATA............. THE AVERAGE MONTHLY WIND SPEED WAS 9.1 MPH * THE FASTEST TWO-MINUTE WIND WAS... 34 MPH FROM 250 DEGREES * THE HIGHEST PEAK WIND GUST WAS.... 43 FROM 170 DEGREES * * - DUE TO THE ICE STORM OF APRIL 6TH WIND DATA ARE MISSING FROM APRIL 5TH THROUGH APRIL 11TH REMARKS... APRIL 1997 WILL GO DOWN IN THE RECORD BOOKS AND MEMORIES OF EVERYONE WHO HAS HAD THE MISFORTUNE TO EXPERIENCE IT. AN INCREDIBLE START TO THE MONTH WITH AN ICE STORM AND BLIZZARD WHICH LEFT TENS OF THOUSANDS WITHOUT ELECTRICITY. IT ALSO FELLED THE LARGEST STRUCTURE IN THE NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT...WHEN A 2000 PLUS FOOT TOWER NEAR GALESBURG NORTH DAKOTA TOPPLED DUE TO ICE AND HURRICANE FORCE WINDS. UNFORTUNATELY JUST ABOUT ALL THE WIND SPEED RECORDERS WERE DISABLED DUE TO THE ICE...SO NO ACCURATE WIND SPEEDS ARE AVAILABLE. THIS PRECEEDED RECORD RIVER FLOODING ACROSS MOST OF THE VALLEY REGION. IT WAS A COLD MONTH WITH THE AVERAGE TEMERATURE LESS THAN 5 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL. THE LOWEST FOR THE MONTH WAS 7 DEGRESS SET ON THE MORNING OF THE 9TH...WHICH SHATTERED THE PREVIOUS RECORD LOW OF 13. AS A FINAL TESTIMONY OF HOW COLD THE MONTH WAS...4 LOWEST MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE RECORDS WERE ESTABLISHED. DATE NEW RECORD PREVIOUS RECORD LOWEST MAXIMUM LOWEST MAXIMUM 7 13 28 1914 8 17 28 1960 LAST OF SEVERAL 9 24 28 1892 10 26 28 1881 PRECIPITATION WAS MUCH ABOVE NORMAL... 1.30 INCHES ABOVE. 7.4 INCHES OF SNOW FELL DURING APRIL WHICH WAS 4.2 INCHES ABOVE THE 30 YEAR NORMAL. SINCE 7 DAYS OF WIND DATA WERE MISSING...AND THE PEAK WINDS WERE MOST LIKELY DURING THE ICE INDUCED OUTAGE...AVERAGE WIND SPEEDS FOR APRIL SHOULD BE USED WITH CAUTION. ALL IN ALL IT WAS A MONTH MANY WOULD LIKE TO FORGET...BUT FEW IF ANY EVER WILL.