The Farmer’s Almanac Predicts A “Flip Flop Winter” For North Dakota

The last couple of winters have been relatively mild in Bismarck Mandan.  In October of 2019, you might remember we were hit with a 17 inch snow in early October.  After that however, we had very little snow over the course of the rest of the winter.  In fact, you could say the drought we are currently in, started after that snow.  In October of 2020 we also had an early snow and cold spell, but the rest of the winter was pretty warm, with very little snow.  By February, in both 2019 and 2020 winter was essentially over in North Dakota.  What little snow we had, had melted.

So, what about the upcoming winter season.  I think many of us who are concerned about the current extreme drought in North Dakota would welcome a snowy season.  The Farmers Almanac predicts a "flip flop winter" for much of the country, including North Dakota.

When I first read that, "flip flop" I was expecting a warmer than normal winter.  I was thinking "flip flops", as in foot attire and warm weather.  Nope, the "flip flop" mean a lot of extremes.  Overall, we are expected to be a little colder than normal this winter, and calls for precipitation to be near normal.

Normal snowfall for Bismarck according to the National Weather Service is 46 inches a year.  I think we would take that considering our current drought.  We have seen far less that last two winters.

Specifically this winter, the Farmer's Almanac is calling for the "B" word in January.  Our winter is expected to start out mild with a couple of cold bouts in the middle of November and end of December.  January will start out mild with a potential blizzard towards the end of the month.  February will be about average and March could go out like a "lion", with chances for storms that will will have us "flip flopping".