A record high of 75, and then a blizzard warning

By Reed Anfinson
It was a stunning contrast you would have seen on the Benson Municipal Airport’s National Weather Service website shortly after 4:30 Friday afternoon.
In big bold numbers it read a high of 75 degrees, shattering the old record high for March 14 of 66 degrees set back in 1981. But below that Friday record high were two bright red blocks for Saturday - one representing a high wind warning and the other a blizzard warning.
Thunderstorms were forecast for Friday evening as a powerful low pressure system moved into Minnesota.
Shortly after 1o Friday evening, the NWS radar site at the Benson airport detected thunder in the area with the temperature at 68 degrees. Wind speeds were beginning to pick up, gusting to 25 mph out of the southeast.
An hour later, a misty rain began to fall with the temperature now down to 48 degrees and turning to the northwest.
By 2:30 Saturday morning, the wind was gusting close to 40 mph with the  light drizzle now freezing to surfaces as the temperature fell to 32 degrees.
At 3:55 Saturday morning, the barometric pressure at the Benson airport fell to 28.95, an extremely low reading indicating a strong storm system was entering the area.
As the sun rose Saturday morning, wind gusts were now hitting 53 mph and were steady at over 30 mph out of the northwest. Trees branches coated with a layer of ice glistened in the sunlight, and streets and sidewalks were treacherously slippery.

For more on this story, support community journalism and subscribe to the Swift County Monitor-News.