Sunday rainfall sets record in Bismarck; Election Day forecast relatively pleasant
The wet and relatively warm weather over the weekend in Bismarck set records.
The capital city received 0.75 inches of rain on Sunday - three-quarters of an inch - breaking the previous record for Nov. 3 of 0.36 inches set nearly 1 1⁄2 centuries ago, in 1880, according to the National Weather Service .
The moisture was welcome - the city in all of September and October received just 1.61 inches of precipitation, more than 1 1⁄2 inches below normal, according to Weather Service data. Bismarck's year-to-date total after Sunday's rainfall is 16.3 inches, 1.55 inches below normal.
Drought in western North Dakota expended in late October, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor , a partnership of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Drought Mitigation Center and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The northern half of Burleigh County along with eastern Morton County is considered abnormally dry, while the rest of Morton County is now in either moderate or severe drought. Nearly all of the western third of North Dakota is in extreme drought, the second-worst category on the five-level scale; that region did not get any rainfall on Sunday. Three-fourths of the state is in some drought category.
North Dakota isn't alone. National Drought Mitigation Center Climatologist Brian Fuchs wrote in the most recent drought report, released on Thursday, that "For the lower 48 states, there has not been this much drought shown on the U.S. Drought Monitor since December 2022."
"Drought expanded and intensified across the (High Plains) region this week with severe and extreme drought expanding over western North Dakota, and moderate drought and abnormally dry conditions expanding over the southeast," Fuchs also wrote.
Bismarck on Sunday also set a record high daily minimum temperature, at 48 degrees. That broke the previous Nov. 3 mark of 42 degrees, set in 1914. The normal low temp in Bismarck for the date is 24 degrees. The high on Sunday in Bismarck reached 53 degrees, 6 degrees above normal.
Jamestown on Sunday tied its 2008 record high daily minimum temp for Nov. 3, with 46 degrees.
There are low chances for light precipitation in Bismarck at various points throughout the workweek, including on Election Day on Tuesday, according to the Weather Service forecast. High temps in the city are forecast in the mid-40s, warming to the low 50s by the weekend. That's about normal for this time of year.
