A Massive Blizzard Blanketed North Dakota In Snow In 1920 And It Will Never Be Forgotten
By Leah|Published November 24, 2018
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Leah
Author
Leah moved to North Dakota when she was 12 years old and has traveled from the Red River Valley to the badlands and many places in between. She loves small-town life and currently enjoys living on a small farm in the ND prairie. She's always had a passion for writing and has participated in novel writing challenges such as NaNoWriMo multiple times. Her favorite part about this job is recognizing small businesses that deserve a boost and seeing the positive affect her articles can have on their traffic, especially in rural areas that might have otherwise gone overlooked.
North Dakotans are no strangers to blizzards. Throughout the years this state has seen tons of snow and frigid temperatures. Last year we even saw weather that rivaled Antarctica in terms of chill. Every once and a while, though, there are storms that roll through that make the history books. These massive blizzards were enough to shut down the state for a few days and many of them later resulted in flooding, too. Keep reading to find out what one of the worst ND has ever experienced was:
North Dakota sees harsh blizzards nearly every year.
People who have lived in North Dakota for a while are used to seeing this kind of white-out conditions at least a couple times a year. The wide-open prairie causes lots of wind that blows snow into massive drifts and makes visibility next to none.
Throughout the decades, North Dakota sees, on average, as much as 38 inches of snow a year.
The photo above was taken in Carrington, North Dakota in 1948 and shows some of the crazy conditions winter brought to the prairie throughout the years. Steady snowfall and freezing temperatures that keep it on the ground can result in snow that's many feet high and stuck to everything.
Right in the dawn of the new decade in March of 1920, North Dakota saw an insane blizzard. There already was snow on the ground from previous flurries, and no one was prepared for the severity of the blizzard to come.
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From March 15 to March 18, 1920, most of North Dakota suffered from the effects of this crazy blizzard.
The blizzard dropped eight inches of snow onto the plains and the high winds caused huge snow drifts to form. Houses and buildings were covered, people became trapped, and the entire state was pretty much shut down for a few days. Rail service was brought to a halt in places like Bismarck and most phone lines were down. Only one line from Fargo to Minneapolis was still working.
The storm damaged many properties and forced people to dig out of their own homes. Unfortunately, it also took lives.
The 1920 blizzard was one of the worst blizzards on record in North Dakota especially due to its fatality rate. 34 North Dakotans lost their lives during the storm. It took days to get the rest of the state back on its feet afterward and those that lived through it would never forget it.
Did anyone in your family experience the 1920 blizzard? Share your stories with us — this storm certainly impacted a lot of people! Including this blizzard, here are some more of the worst snowstorms to ever hit North Dakota.
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