Climate of North Dakota

Jensen, Ray E.  No Date.  Climate of North Dakota.  National Weather Service,
     North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota.  48pp.

Jensen, Ray E.  No Date.  Climate of North Dakota.  National Weather Service,
     North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota.  Jamestown, ND: 
     Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Online.
     http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/habitat/climate/index.htm
     (Version 02APR98).

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Climatic Controls
  • Air Mass Sources
  • Daylength and Solar Angle
  • Topography
• Temperature
  • General Summary
  • Annual
  • Seasonal
  • Growing Season Temperatures
  • Extreme Highes and Lowest Temperatures
  • Annual Number of Days of 90° F or above
  • Annual Number of Days of 32° F or below
  • Annual Number of Days of 0° F or below
  • Diurnal Teperature Range and Construction of Annual Temperature Curves
  • Length of Freeze-Free Period
  • Soil Temperature and Frost Penetration
• Precipitation
  • Seasonal
  • Annual
  • Snow
  • Probabilities of Diurnal Precipitation Occurence at Bismarck and Fargo
  • Occurrence Possibility for Snow, Rain or Drizzle, or Freezing Rain or Drizzle
  • Frequency and Intensity of Precipitation
  • Annual Distribution of Thunderstorms
• Relative Humidity
• Sunshine and Cloudiness
• Obstructions to Visibility
• Wind
• Severe Storms
  • Tornadoes
  • Wind Storms
  • Hail Storms
  • Diurnal Distribution of Tornadoes, Windstorms and Hailstorms
• Blizzards
• Bibliography
• List of Tables and Figures

Acknowledgments

This study of the climate of North Dakota is dedicated to the approximately 200 cooperative weather observers in North Dakota. Cooperative weather observers come from all walks of life. Among their ranks are farmers, mail carriers, newspaper publishers, housewives, professors, jailors, businessmen, policemen, teenagers and peripatetic septuagenarians and octogenarians. About the only thing they have in common is a genuine interest in observing and recording the weather; they freely admit that weather is their hobby. Some families in the state have a long tradition of weather observing, in some cases more than 65 years at or near the same location. Some individuals still observing and reporting the weather have been weather observers for more than 40 years at the same location and they are enviously eyeing the record of nearly 60 years. And so to the cooperative weather observers, who give gratuitously of their time, we humbly say "thank you" to them for their generous assistance in making this study of North Dakota's climate possible. The author hopes that the reading of his interpretation of what the records show will prove to be of some satisfaction to every cooperative weather observer.

The author also wishes to express his appreciation to the North Dakota State Water Commission, Mr. Milo Hoisveen, Chief Engineer, for supplying funds for help in analyzing the data, for assistance in drafting some of the figures, and for bearing the publication costs of this study. Special appreciation is also expressed to Dr. E. B. Norum, chairman of the Department of Soils at North Dakota State University, for his generous support in furnishing labor. Dr. Juanito Ramirez, agricultural climatologist in the Department of Soils at North Dakota State University, will be remembered for his helpful technical advice and discussion. Our able computer programmer, Mr. Marvin Kubischta, also deserves mention for his efforts in massaging the data and drafting some of the figures. And finally to the loyal secretary, Miss Jean Gunderson, who typed the several drafts and final copy of the manuscript, I also say "thank you".