Late April Blizzard Dumps 13-18 Inches, Closes I-94 Near Jamestown

Westbound I-94 between Jamestown and Steele shut down April 4 as a blizzard hammered Stutsman County with 13 to 18 inches of snow, near-zero visibility, and drifts the North Dakota Department of Transportation deemed life-threatening.

Snowfall reports continued into April 5 as icy roads compounded the hazard. NDDOT's closure covered a critical leg of one of the state's main east-west routes, leaving westbound traffic out of Jamestown with no viable path through the storm.

The blizzard landed squarely on Easter weekend. TRAC, the Jamestown events venue, moved its Easter egg hunt indoors rather than cancel, keeping the holiday tradition alive as snow piled up outside. Easter falls on April 5 this year, meaning the storm hit at the height of the holiday.

Thirteen to 18 inches of accumulation in a single April storm is a significant total for this region. The combination of that snowfall, the drifts, and the whiteout conditions gave NDDOT enough cause to issue its strongest possible warning to drivers: stay off the road.