Rugby had the dubious honor of recording the lowest temperature in North Dakota and perhaps the nation on Wednesday, as the mercury fell to 49 below zero during the early morning hours. Linton recorded the lowest wind chill mark at 62 below zero, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Todd Hamilton.
Relief is on the way as temperatures are expected to rise to near above freezing on Friday and Saturday, Hamilton said.
But the roller-coaster weather pattern will continue through the near future with high temperatures falling to the single digits and teens early next week, possibly accompanied by snow. Bismarck recorded 33 below zero early Wednesday with a wind chill of 42 below zero, which prompted a large number of closings throughout the community, including schools and businesses.
“The next couple of days we’re going to see a nice warming trend, but then it looks like temperatures will drop early next week though mid-week,” Hamilton said. “We had a cold front move through the other day and what we’re experiencing is just a chunk of arctic air the low pressure system pulled over the Northern Plains. This weather pattern is not uncommon for this time of year. We haven’t set a lot of record temperatures, but it’s been quite some time since we’ve seen wind chills this wide spread.”
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The center of the low pressure system is situated over the Great Lakes and North Dakota is on the western edge of the system, Hamilton said.
“Almost two-thirds of North Dakota is in the ice box with the exception of the western portion of the state.”
Two areas in Mandan experienced water main breaks on Wednesday morning, according to Public Works Director Mitch Bitz. City crews responded to two breaks — at 14th Street Northwest and Sixth Avenue, and at the 300 block of 12th Avenue Southeast. Street crews were called in to clean up the ice resulting from water running down the streets and to do some sanding.
“Disruption of (water) service (on 12th Avenue Southeast) to 14 homes occurred between 4 a.m. and 11 a.m.,” Bitz said. “The crew excavated down to the pipe and placed a repair sleeve on the pipe and service resumed. We’re still investigating the other break and hopefully have it fixed sometime during the day. A limited number of homes are involved.”
Bitz added that about 15 crew members were involved in fixing the breaks and precautions were taken to keep the workers safe in the arctic temperatures. Both of the breaks occurred in areas where pipes are scheduled for replacement, and the breaks can most likely be attributed to the recent fluctuation in temperatures, he said.
Across the river in Bismarck, Montana-Dakota Utilities crews at about 3:50 a.m. Wednesday responded to a power outage that initially affected 350 customers in an area west of State Street and south of Divide Avenue in Bismarck.
MDU spokesman Mark Hanson said the crew found a broken conductor and a downed line west of Washington Avenue on the south side of Interstate Avenue. Before repairs could be made, the crew had to take down a circuit. That affected another 800 customers from about 7 a.m. to 7:45 a.m., when all power was restored.
Backhoes were used to clear snow and allow bucket trucks access to the pole. Hanson said in warmer weather crews could have climbed the pole to make repairs. With temperatures around 30 below zero, crew members rotated their time in the elements.
“They can only be exposed so long,” he said.
The North Dakota Governor’s Residence was affected by the outage, director of facility management John Boyle said, but generators immediately provided power to the residence. Generators at the capitol building were turned on at MDU’s request to provide additional power to the area, Boyle said.
Jeff Heintz, Bismarck’s director of service operations, noted that city crews took advantage of the school closings.
“Since the schools were closed, we’ve had our crews pulling snow away from curbs and gutters near the schools and putting sand down,” Heintz said. “We typically see more problems during the spring of the year. As the ground freezes, we’ll have expansion, which lifts sidewalks, driveways. This can affect curb stops as the lifting occurs. We haven’t seen this.”
-- Bismarck Tribune journalist Travis Svihovec contributed to this report.