Weather forecasters predict first snowflakes of season

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

Oct. 19, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

If modern weather prediction is any more than a game of craps, the Bemidji region should have seen its first snowflakes of the season late Monday night and this morning, according to weather officials.

The National Weather Service offices in Grand Forks, N.D., and in Duluth had predicted Monday that rain showers that were falling earlier in the day Monday would turn into snow by night.

Meteorologist Dave Soroka said although the snow shouldn't accumulate too much, the region should see its first snowflakes of the season.

He said that Monday afternoon a front of rain showers moved through northwestern Minnesota and behind that followed a front containing colder weather.

That should have produced scattered snow showers late Monday night and possibly until 7 or 8 a.m. this morning.

"I would definitely consider it the first flakes of the season," he said. "But it's not necessarily the first snowfall."

He added that it is typical for the Bemidji region to see snowflakes in mid-October, but the region usually doesn't see snow that sticks around until November.

Meteorological Technician Bill Carroll, of the NWS office in Duluth, said he expects the same type of weather for Koochiching and Itasca counties as well.

In fact, he said an area from Fosston, which is about 45 miles wet of Bemidji, northeast to Roseau and over to Little Falls reported snow showers on Monday morning.

According to Assistant State Climatologist Pete Boulay, the earliest on record the Bemidji area has received a significant snowfall was Sept. 22, 1995, when Bemidji received 2 inches of snow. The state's records date back to 1948.

He said that, on average, Bemidji begins to see its most significant snow accumulation about Nov. 30, when there is an average of 2 inches on the ground.