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Friday, January 27, 2023
Communities relying on local champions to attract workers Page A2 News briefs Page A2 Red River Farm Network headlines Page A3 Hoeven outlines farm bill priorities Page A3 The Morning Run: Nervous breakdown season Page A4 Musings from Munich: Yearly subscription Page A4 Bob’s big adventure - Part 1 Page A5 N.D. Legislature intern correspondence Page A5 Greetings from the Northern Lights Arts Council Page A6 Langdon Area High School 2nd Quarter Honor Roll Page A6 Hello from the Langdon Area Chamber Page A6 Catholic Schools Week Page A7 From the Pastor’s Desk by Fr. Kurtis Gunwall Page A9 Views from the Borderland Page 10
By Sarah Hinnenkamp
The Borderland has had a mixed bag of freezing drizzle or frizzle and long stretches of foggy days that have caused extreme frost conditions. “It has been a little bit unusual,” said Daryl Ritchison, director of the North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network (NDAWN). Ritchison characterizes unusual weather as something that doesn’t happen each year but said we have seen long stretches of foggy conditions in winter's past. During his many speaking engagements, Ritchison likes to remind people of how short our memories are when it comes to winter weather. A quick history lesson outlines that two winters ago was probably one of the warmest, driest winters in North Dakota, and one winter ago, the state had one of the windiest seasons. It became a problem and more noticeable because of the snow on the ground, and it affected travel.
south. The stagnant air means lack of wind, leading to the frost accumulating.
more than 1000 miles in 10 days. He pointed out that our area hasn’t had much of any snow for almost a month.
If some of the storms to our north and south would have been a little closer to our area, the fog wouldn’t have been able to form.
“I’m thinking, oh good, there’s been three storms that are missing us, but then I go, oh, but I bet I’m going to have to deal with frosty roads or pockets of freezing drizzle,” he said. “Nothing big but little nuscenses, but then all of a sudden you see spits of drizzle on your windshield. It’s typical of winter. Every day something may pop up when you’re traveling in the winter. You always have to be aware of that, even if the storms may miss you.”
“This January has been phenomenally mild by our standards,” Ritchison said. “That warm air condenses, and the clouds fog because we’ve had no wind. Had it not been for the December snow storm, we probably wouldn’t be seeing so much fog.” However - we are seeing fog. Day after day of fog and rime frost that has accumulated over time. When the wind finally does pick up, it moves the power lines, which have frost build up on them and are heavy. They bounce against each other and cause power bumps or outages.
Photos by Larry Stokke.
Climate talk From a climatological standpoint, No-
“This year we’ve had no wind – the lack of wind is far more unusual. This to me is more unusual than the wind we got last year. Last year, I got constant phone calls,” Ritchison said. The culprit of the heavy frost that weighs down tree branches and power lines is a stagnant Pacific weather pattern. Ritchison said North Dakota has been in between storm tracks with storms to our north and our A foggy day in Langdon on Thursday, Jan. 19. Photo by Larry Stokke.
vember and December are the cloudiest months in North Dakota. That’s when we start getting snow and start seeing this type of weather. Though every year is unique, typically by January we get Arctic air masses that are cold and dry, and those push out the gloom, leaving us with highs and lows below zero.
Jake’s Take on Sports Page B1 Blades junior gold boys and 19U girls hockey teams have very successful western road trips Page B5 A Look Back at 2022, Quarter 2 Page B9
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by saying it has been extremely cold in Siberia for the last month, even by their standards it’s been really cold, far below average.
Ritchison just returned to Fargo from a speaker tour in which he traveled
9th ranked Eagles crush St. John at Class B Day in Devils Lake B1
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Volume 2, Number 3
Stagnant weather pattern leads to foggy, frosty days in the Borderland
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“This January, it’s been cloudy every day - it’s hard to get below zero with the clouds,” Ritchison said. “When everyone gets the January heating bill, they’ll say ‘wow, this is great compared to December.’” Looking ahead Ritchison starts his forecast analysis
House Bill 1251 triggers local action By Borderland Press Staff
Discussion occurred at the last regular meeting of the Langdon Area Schools School Board, which was held Wednesday, Jan. 18, in regard to North Dakota House Bill 1251. If enacted, it would have school superintendents be responsible for a minimum of 475 students, effectively stretching a superintendent’s responsibilities across multiple smaller school districts in many locations across the state. Langdon Area School District is about 420 students, which administrators say can change a little throughout the school year. Board president Dave Hart spoke strongly against the bill, dubbing it the “anti superintendent bill." “It’s understandable for some of the
smaller districts, but for a district our size, our superintendent needs to be in the building full-time,” said Dave Hart, president of the Langdon Area School Board. “Schools are starting to do a board approved letter in opposition of this. From our school district, we could make a motion tonight to extend that position from our board and administration.” A motion was made and board members voted to move forward with the plan of sending a letter in opposition to the bill to local legislators. The letter drafted on Jan. 19 said in part, “The Langdon Area School Board would like to express that House Bill 1251 is an overreach from the legislature that takes away the control and cont’d. on page A10
While our December was five to 10 degrees below average, our January was warmer than average. Ritchison predicts that February into March will be noticeably below average. “In a way, things do balance out a little bit. The positive with the Arctic air would be seeing more sunny days and cont’d. on page A10
Dogs chase mailman in Langdon, owner cited By Sarah Hinnenkamp
During a discussion about dog licensing at the Langdon City Commission meeting on Monday, Jan. 23, an incident was brought up that occurred earlier in the day. “Pittbulls are not allowed in the City of Langdon – the mailman was chased by four pitbulls. I had them call the Sheriff’s office because there’s nothing I can do. I can’t enforce the law,” said RoxAnne Hoffarth, auditor for the City of Langdon. According to a news release from the Cavalier County Sheriff’s department, the dogs were known to law enforcement. Back on Nov. 8, the department received a complaint about someone having pitbull-type dogs in the City of Langdon, which is a violation of Langdon City ordinance to have prohibited dogs in the City of Langdon to include pitbulls. The owner of the dogs was identified as 39-year-old Michael Roberts of Langdon. The Sheriff’s office issued Roberts a warning for “Prohibited Dog” and worked with Roberts on removing the dogs from city limits. On Jan. 23, the Cavalier County Sheriff’s Office received a complaint that Roberts had brought the dogs back into Langdon and that they were chasing someone in the area of the 100 block of 7th Avenue.
Photo by Larry Stokke.
“The Northern hemisphere works in conjunction: if you’re warmer than average, somewhere else is colder than average,” he said. “Because the patterns have been kind of stuck, my strong suspicion is that February will be sunnier but colder.”
A deputy investigated the incident and issued Roberts several citations for each of the four pitbulls. The following citations were issued:
-Dog Running at Large -Failure to License Dog -Prohibited Dog – Pitbull Each of these offenses is an infraction and punishable up to $500 for each offense. Both the Cavalier County Sheriff’s Office and the City of Langdon would like to remind all citizens that Langdon City ordinance prohibits all dogs from running at large and are required to be leashed. The city ordinance also requires all dogs to be inoculated against rabies and licensed with the City of Langdon. Yearly licenses are $6.00 annually for each male dog and each spayed female dog and $10.00 for each female dog, not spayed. Licenses are available at City Hall. At the next Langdon City Commission meeting, commissioners will discuss the current dog licensing ordinance, look at other cities’ ordinances, and decide if any changes need to be made for Langdon.