Remember The North Dakota Pheasant Opener Blizzard 2019?
Looks like it's going to be a wet, muddy, and sloppy pheasant opener on Saturday over much of North Dakota. We are expected to see up near an inch of rain in the Bismarck Mandan by the time the system moves out of the area on Sunday morning. An inch of rain, by the way, translates usually to around 10 inches of snow. Yikes! I'm glad temperatures are going to be too warm this weekend for snow.
We've had three straight years of early snowfalls in Bismarck Mandan going back to September of 2018. October of 2019 was especially brutal with around 17 inches falling in and around Bismarck. The entire state was hit with a blizzard with the exception of the far western portion of the state. Interstates and highways were closed. This started on Friday night and lingered into Sunday. Parts of central North Dakota saw as much as 36 inches of snow on October 10th. Oh yeah, it was the pheasant opener too, which made it just about impossible for hunters to hit the field. Unless you're a couple of crazy's like Steve Bakken and myself. We ventured out and spent more time trying not to get stuck than actually hunting. Needless to say, we got skunked.
Here's a look back at some of the storm pictures from our listeners sent to us. As much as I hate hunting pheasants in the rain, I'll take it over these pictures. A sobering reminder that winter can happen for us at anytime here in North Dakota.
Remembering The 2019 Pheasant Opener Blizzard In North Dakota