| Summary: | Weather and Climate Climatological Survey (Data compiled from official U.S. Weather Bureau Records) Emmons County is located in south- central North Dakota. The area to the west of Linton, the county seat, is hilly and steep land while to the east the topography is nearly level to gently rolling land. The main cash crops of the area are wheat, flax, oats, corn and barley in addition to an extensive cattle industry. Being near the geographical center of the North American Continent, it has a continental climate characterized by cold and rather snowy winters, warm summer days and cool nights. Maximum summer temperatures average about 84 degrees, but temperatures of 90 degrees or more occur on an average of 31 days per year. Temperatures during the winter months average 13.7 degrees; during outbreaks of cold, arctic air, temperatures drop to zero or below on 46 days each year. Annual precipitation is 16.75 inches, of which 77 per cent falls in the growing season. Summertime precipitation is usually in the form of thunderstorms, about 30 storms are reported each year. Twenty- five inches of snow can be expected each year but snowfall has varied from over 52 inches in 1951-1952 to about 6 inches in 1927-1928. The average wind speed is about 11 miles per hour, and the prevailing direction is west-northwest. TORNADO The tornado that ripped through southeast Emmons County on May 5, 1964 crossed the State line east of Herreid moving northeasterly. Though it missed Hague itself, it damaged some of the nearby farms: those of Arnold Hasper, Wendelin Schumacher, Adam Eberle, Frank K. Volk, Martin Vetter and Adam Goldade. Directly across its path lay the high voltage power line that was supplying all electricity to our cities while the Bismarck line was being repaired. As the tornado roared through at 10:05 p.m. it completely destroyed about a mile length of the power line, and electricity went out in Hazelton, Linton, Strasburg and Hague. This began the longest outage of current in the county in fifty years. Electricity was restored in Linton at 4:10 p.m. on Thursday, May 7th. In June 1897, Chris Hanson's house, 3 miles south of Hull, was raised from its foundation by a tornado and dropped with one corner resting on a washing machine. Half the roof and all the windows were blown away. The stove overturned, starting a fire, but this was quickly controlled. Many dishes were broken. Mrs. Hanson, in bed with a new baby, was not hurt. Tornado in Hague vicinity Sacred Heart Church destroyed by tornado, 1908 Emmons County Station History A climatological substation was established in the town of Linton in Sept. 1917. The instrumentation included maximum and minimum thermometers in a standard instrument shelter and a rain and snow gauge. The instruments are located over sod under standard conditions. "Observers at the Linton station have been: J. D. Sailer Sept. 1917 to Aug. 1920 Wm. Malpass Sept. 1920 to July 1922 W. C. Wolverton Aug. 1922 to Dec. 1924 Rev. Otto Weber Jan. 1925 to Apr. 1930 Rev. E. J. Olberding July 1930 to July 1939 Wm. Heyerman July 1939 to Sept. 1953 Leonard P. Malone Sept. 1953 to Nov. 1969 Peter A. Kraft Dec. 1969 to Present Peter Kocher of Hague received the Dept. of Commerce National Weather Service Award for contributing weather records for 20 years. He began this task in 1954 and is still on the job. 40 Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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