MINOT – December 2022 is in the rear-view mirror, and it proved to be one of the coldest, snowiest Decembers in this city’s history. Evidence can be found throughout the region, with giant piles of snow pushed up from roadways and parking lots and such.
Total snowfall for December 2022, as officially measured at the Minot Research Extension Center on the city’s south edge, was 15.9 inches. Normal for December is 10.1 inches.
The 15.9 inches places December 2022 as the ninth snowiest December in 117 years of record keeping. The most snow ever recorded in December for Minot was 28.4 inches in 2008. Then comes the next three all-time dumps of the white stuff -- 25.9 inches in 2016, 25.2 inches in 2010, 21.5 inches in 2009.
It was downright cold in December too. According to official temperature data from Minot International Airport the average temperature for December 2022 was 8 degrees. The long-term average is 18.3 degrees. The cold temperatures matched the 8-degree average from 1906, tying December 2022 for the 24th coldest in the last 115 years.
Minot wasn’t alone in experiencing weather extremes in December. Bismarck received a whopping 30 inches of snow, second only to 33.3 inches recorded in 2008.
Looking ahead, Minot’s average snowfall for January is 8.3 inches, February 6.9 inches, March 7.8 inches, and April 4.4 inches. Minot’s heaviest snowfalls occurred in 1949-50 with 100 inches, and 2010-11 with 76.5 inches recorded.
The most recent 10-14 day weather outlook calls for above average temperatures for Minot with average precipitation. The 3-month outlook issued by the Climate Prediction Center calls for below average temperatures and above average snowfall through March.
