Wild Weather in Northern Valley - Valley News Live - KVLY/KXJB - Fargo/Grand Forks

Wild Weather in Northern Valley

  It was a wild and brutally cold start to the day in the northern valley.  Luckily, there were no injuries.

  …very dangerous driving conditions out here on Highway 2 between Crookston and Grand Forks today. Winds gusts of up to 35 miles per hour at times, dropped the visibility to zero."

  A dozen cars hit the ditch. Most of them simply drove off the road in zero visibility.

Reporter: "You hit the ditch too?"

Trooper David Spivey, MN State Patrol: "Yeah, I did."

Reporter: "What were the conditions like?"

Trooper Spivey: "Zero visibility. I was turning around to assist with a car in the ditch and just went off the road."

  Trucker Dean Schulz pulled off the highway just before daybreak to wait for more light, and more visibility."

Reporter: "Are you going to keep going on today?"

Dean Schulz, Trucker: "No, I'm going to get back to Fertile and get out of the truck and go home."

  And with wind chills expected to drop to 40 to 50-degrees below zero, you're reminded to stay with your car in you hit the ditch.

Reporter: "Even if you're dressed for it, you're not going to go very far?"

Trooper David Spivey: "No, stay with the car. You're always advised to stick with your car. We'll find the car. Nine time out of 10 we'll find the car really quick."

   Now here are some statistics that might surprise you.

  Despite the current bitter cold, the National Weather Service says Fargo is 2.2-degrees above the average January temperature, and Grand Forks is 1.7 degrees above the average.

  We tend to forget that we started out the month with some warm days.