Many people were confused and a few expressed disappointment after this past week's winter storm warning yielded less than four inches of snow here in Fargo-Moorhead.
Actually, less than that fell just a few miles to the east. The National Weather Service issues winter storm warnings for our area when six inches or more of snow is expected to fall in a twelve hour period or when four inches or more of snow is accompanied by strong wind that is expected to remain below blizzard force. However, usually to diminish confusion, winter storm warnings are issued by county, and this works well most of the time.
On Wednesday night, a 5-10 mile wide band of 6-14 inches of snow fell just west and north of the Fargo area and so warnings were issued for the affected counties.
But most of the places in those counties received less than four inches of snow. In fact, some parts got less than one inch. According to the rules, the warning was issued correctly but because the storm was unusually small, it caused confusion for a majority of those affected.
