Those were the days: Blizzards kept mounting 1996-97

FARGO, N.D. (AP) - The number 10 has a special meaning for some North Dakotans this week. They can say they survived it.

Ten years ago, the worst winter on record in the Red River Valley produced 10 blizzards. One turned the wedding reception of Tim and Kari O'Keeffe into a two-day event. Another kept Scott Hoff stuck on his farm for nearly a week.

"It certainly made our wedding very memorable," Tim O'Keeffe recalled last week, while he and his wife celebrated their 10th anniversary at a Fargo restaurant. "It turned out, in the end, to be a very good time."

The O'Keeffes were married at Fargo's Nativity Catholic Church on Jan. 3, 1997, a day that started out with partly cloudy skies and mild temperatures. It ended with an intense snowstorm that produced 11 inches of snow and shut down the town.

"We made the best of it," Tim O'Keeffe said. "In some ways for people, it turned into an extended family reunion."

Just one week later, while the O'Keeffes were enjoying their honeymoon in Florida, the southern valley was socked by another blizzard that deposited nearly 8 inches of snow. Blizzards became almost routine to Hoff, of rural Buffalo.

"It's difficult to remember any specific storms because there were so many of them," said Hoff, who now lives in Perley, Minn., near Fargo. "I just remember the snow being piled as high as the loader would put it."

Records fell across the state: 117 inches of snow in Fargo for the season, more than 100 inches in Bismarck, 100 inches in Jamestown, and 96 inches for the Grand Forks airport, said Brad Bramer, a science and operations officer for the National Weather Service.

"There were a lot of factors that played into that winter," Bramer said.

By December, the snow had reached to the top of the Hoff's mobile home. He drove into the ditch on the way to his mother's house on Christmas Eve and was forced to walk about a mile home with his wife and three children.

Hoff's daughter, Shylah, remembers that school was canceled 14 times that winter.

"I remember the big snowdrifts and making forts, caves and tunnels with my brother," said Shylah, who was 13 at the time. "You could walk to the top of evergreen trees and hop right off."

All Hoff's cattle survived the winter, although it was a challenge to keep them fenced in. He built posts on the top of snow drifts and tied fencing to trees.

The O'Keeffes had scheduled a January wedding in Fargo, Kari's hometown, because Tim was on a break from law school at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn. He recalled that about 300 people attended the event, a third of whom came from out of the area.

"Several people left the reception early, hoping to beat the storm, and wound up getting stranded," Kari said. "The rest of us spent the weekend watching movies and hanging out. We ate and drank a lot."

The O'Keeffes left Fargo the following Monday in separate vehicles to Minneapolis, where they were scheduled to fly out on their wedding vacation. Kari wound up in the ditch on icy Interstate 94. The car had to be towed twice - first out of the ditch and then off the highway when the engine overheated.

"Kari was sitting in the lobby of the service station and a lady asked her if she was going to be OK," Tim said. "Kari said, 'No I'm not. I'm on my honeymoon."'

The winter wouldn't end without another storm in April, one that progressed from rain to ice to snow. Electricity was out in many places for nearly a week. Two people died, as well as an estimated 90,000 cattle.

The worst was not over. In Florida, the O'Keeffes were stunned by TV reports that showed the Red River flooding and fire that destroyed downtown Grand Forks. Kari's maid of honor was one of those who took refuge at the Grand Forks Air Force Base during the flood.

"It was just surreal," Kari said.

As a member of the North Dakota National Guard, Hoff wound up helping with the flood fight in a residential area of south Fargo.

"We needed to get sandbag trucks in and out and keep the water watchers away," he said. "It was a long tour."

Hoff accepted a military transfer to Virginia in 1998. But he said the record-setting winter did not drive him away - or keep him from coming back.

"This place has always held something for me," he said. "I don't know what it is."