In 1983, North Dakota Plunged Into An Arctic Freeze That Makes This Year’s Winter Look Downright Mild
Do you enjoy winter? Lucky for you, this hasn’t been the state’s worst winter. Some may and some may not remember the winter of 1983-84 here in the Peace Garden State. That winter makes this year’s look downright mild, and here’s why:
In late December of 1983, North Dakota plunged into an arctic freeze unlike any other.
Williston, ND had its record-breaking temp at -50, not including the windchill, and many parts of the rest of the state never saw temps above 0 for days.
Not only was there this extreme cold that winter, later in the season in February of 1984, there was a massive blizzard that went down in history. Driving during that blizzard was nearly impossible with pretty much no visibility.
Hundreds of cars became stuck in snow drifts, ditches, or otherwise abandoned during the blizzard. Unfortunately, it also caused multiple deaths due to exposure when people left their stuck vehicles and tried to walk through the storm.
Check out this video for an in-depth look at this record-breaking winter:
Do you remember that winter? It’s crazy how cold and snowy it was! It certainly puts other winters to shame. Check out more of North Dakota’s worst winters by clicking here— and yes, this one made the list of course!
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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.
