Minot Weather Warnings

Blizzard, winter storm and wind chill warnings in force for Minot and Ward County right now, from the National Weather Service in Bismarck.

[data-tool-body-wait]{display:none}This part of the page needs JavaScript, and this browser isn’t running it. Everything else on the page still reads.

This still hasn’t loaded. It looks stuck rather than slow, so reloading is worth a try now.

Reload the page Other tools for Minot

About these tools

Town Tools builds free, public tools for Minot and towns around the world. AI researches each place from local sources and keeps the tools up to date; residents suggest new ones and report corrections.

Where to check, before and during

NWS Bismarck — warnings, radar and forecastThe forecast office for Minot and Ward County.

Hyper-Reach — Ward County emergency alertsWard County's reverse 9-1-1 sign-up, linked from the City's own homepage.

NDDOT travel informationRoad conditions, closures and no-travel advisories. Dial 511 in North Dakota.

NWS winter weather definitionsWhat each winter watch, warning and advisory actually means, in the Weather Service's own words.

NOAA Weather Radio — North Dakota coverageSet a weather radio to the Ward County SAME code 038101 for automatic alerts.

Get an email when a warning is issued

Official warnings, forwarded the moment the national service issues one for the area — headline and all, in its own words. Nothing in between. No account, one-click unsubscribe.

Worth knowing

A blizzard warning is about the wind, not the snowfall

The National Weather Service's own winter-weather definitions put a blizzard warning at sustained wind or frequent gusts of 35 mph or more, with falling or blowing snow dropping visibility below a quarter of a mile, expected to last three hours or longer. There is no temperature threshold and no snowfall threshold. On the open prairie around Minot that can happen with very little new snow — old snow lifted off the fields will do it — so "only an inch forecast" is not a reason to discount one. A winter storm warning is about the amount, a wind chill warning about how fast exposed skin freezes, and a town can be under more than one at a time.

The sirens are for people who are outdoors

The City's own GIS publishes 20 outdoor warning sirens across Minot. An outdoor siren is meant to reach people who are outside: you may not hear one indoors, asleep, or over a furnace in January. Treat a siren as one signal among several rather than the only one.

How to get warned indoors

Turn on Wireless Emergency Alerts on your phone — tornado, blizzard and flash-flood warnings come through automatically with no sign-up. Sign up for Hyper-Reach, Ward County's reverse 9-1-1, for a call, text or email. A NOAA Weather Radio set to the Ward County SAME code 038101 wakes itself up for a warning and does not need a phone signal, which matters when a storm takes the network down.

The roads are a separate question

A weather warning describes the air; whether you can drive is a different answer and comes from the North Dakota Department of Transportation. Dial 511 in North Dakota, or use the NDDOT travel information map. A no-travel advisory is not issued by the Weather Service and will not appear on this page.

Grass fire has a warning season here too

Winter is not the only thing the Weather Service warns about on the Northern Plains. The open country and wind that drive a ground blizzard in January drive a fast grass fire in the dry weeks of spring and autumn, so this page reads the fire-weather zone for Ward County alongside the forecast and county zones. A Red Flag Warning means conditions are right for a fire to run, not that one has started; a burn ban is the county's call, not the Weather Service's.