Winter Blues

The new law, per North Dakota Century Code 15.1-06-04, states a school district shall provide for a school calendar at least nine hundred sixty-two and one-half hours of instruction for elementary school students and one thousand fifty hours of instruction for middle and high school students.

The law was changed to allow school districts more flexibility with their calendars rather than trying to determine how many winter storm days to schedule into their yearly calendar.

The Max Plunge is Max's yearly guessing game that has become a wintertime fixture and is sponsored by the Max Parks Department. Each year, residents predict when a specially-made jumbo can of pop will fall through the ice of Elbow Lake along Highway 83 in Max. The top 4 guesses are the recipient of a cash prize. The Plunge can is outfitted with an electronic timer that stops immediately when it gets wet, notifying officials of the exact moment the can takes the plunge.

The Max Plunge was first held in 1995 and featured an actual pop machine. On April 12th, 1995 at 2:58 p.m., history was made when the pop machine broke through the ice of Elbow Lake for the first time.

In late 2001, the National Weather Service implemented a new Wind Chill Temperature (WCT) Index. The reason for the change was to improve upon the old index used by the NWS and the Meteorological Services of Canada (MSC) which was based on the 1945 Siple and Passel Index.

Using the old model, 7 degrees with a wind of 18 mph would have resulted in a windchill of -26 degrees.

Melvin, Robert, and Don Jahner hail from the town of Linton, North Dakota. The snow shovel allows users to push a large amount of snow in a short period of time. The shovel is slanted allowing the user to change directions as they plow snow up and down their driveway or sidewalk.

Over the years plenty of people have created bootleg SnoBlades, but make no mistake. There is only ONE Dakota SnoBlade.

Theodore Roosevelt originally came to Dakota Territory in 1883 to hunt bison. The locals showed little interest in helping this eastern tenderfoot. The promise of quick cash, however, convinced Joe Ferris - a 25-year-old Canadian living in the Badlands - to act as Roosevelt's hunting guide.

On December 15th, 1884, Roosevelt wrote just two words in his journal to describe the tundra's harsh winter: Bitterly cold.

Per the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, 12-15 inches of good ice is good for a medium pickup truck.

The general rule of thumb for ice: 2 inches - STAY OFF!

• 4 inches of good ice for a walking individual
• 6 inches of good ice for a snowmobile or ATV
• 8-12 inches of good ice for a car or small pickup
• 12-15 inches of good ice for a medium pickup truck.

Source: North Dakota Game and Fish Department Ice Safety