Amarillo, Texas is home to the Big Texan Steak Ranch- a restaurant where tourists can get a BIG steak (72 oz.) for free, if you can eat it in less than an hour. Fargo is home to a woodchipper with its own larger-than-life status, where tourists can snap a picture next to the very machine that infamously brought Steve Buscemi’s character to his end. The two towns have about as much in common as tumblin’ tumbleweeds and tumblin’ temperatures.
However, in an odd twist, we have found common ground. Though it sits about 1000 miles south of us, Amarillo has seen about as much snow so far this winter as Fargo. In fact, it’s been slightly snowier there.
Amarillo, TX: 12.3″
Fargo, ND: 12.1″
It’s not that Amarillo has had a lot of snow. In fact, the Texas town is near average. It’s that Fargo has seen very little.
They're making their own snow at Buffalo River Race Park in Glyndon, MN for the ISOC National SnoCross Races in early March. Kevin Nathe says they have have 15" and counting.
Here are some interesting snow numbers:
12.0″ Total snow so far this season in Fargo.
33.9″ Average snow totals in Fargo.
59.4″ Total snow this time one year ago in Fargo.
We are running close to 2 FEET below average. And we had seen nearly 5 times the amount of snow last year at this time in Fargo. The same goes for Grand Forks in the lack-of-snow department.
If the season ended now, it would be the second least snowy winter in Fargo’s recorded history.
Most recently, Fargo and the Red River Valley have been in a virtual no-man’s-land for snow over the last couple of weeks. But the atmosphere is waking up out of it’s mid-winter doldrums. A few flakes have been flying this week. And next week, models are indicating a couple of chances of measureable snow.
It may be too late in the season to compete with snow totals of the last couple of years in the Red River Valley. However, all Fargo needs is another .3″ inches of snow to take the lead in the snow race against our distant neighbors in Amarillo.
by Meteorologist Lisa Green
