Very Strange: Part Of North Dakota Under Fire Alert - In February!

A very rare winter red flag warning for rangeland fire risk
today in southwestern North Dakota. 

 When a lot of us think of North Dakota in February, we picture scenes from the movie "Fargo." 

You know, a winter wasteland of blowing, drifting, frigid snow.   Parts of North Dakota are currently breaking that stereotype, though. 

It's true that North Dakota has had bouts of frigid weather this winter, as usual. But in the western part of the state, it's super, super dry. 

For instance, Williston, North Dakota has had only. 0.77 since November 1 - nearly four months.  

Since there's been no precipitation, there's no snow cover out in western North Dakota like there usually is this time of year. 

Most of western and central North Dakota is considered to be in severe drought. 

The result: A rare red flag warning for the risk of wildfires today in southwestern North Dakota.  Strong, gusty and very dry southwesterly winds today are being blamed for the rangeland fire risk. It is just odd to see this happening in part of the nation's ice box in February. 

Even though no particular fire warnings are up elsewhere, other parts of the Dakotas are under some risk of fires today due to a lack of snow cover. This risk exists as far away as Yankton, in southeastern South Dakota. 

It's normally quite dry in western North Dakota during the winter.  Most winter months only see a half inch of rain or melted snow per month during the cold season. But since it's even drier than normal, they're getting this strange fire risk.