Storm brings more rain than snow in ND

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A storm expected to dump snow in much of North Dakota brought rain instead and the National Weather Service issued a flood watch Thursday for the southern Red River Valley.

The weather service said temperatures were warmer than expected, with highs in the 50s. By late afternoon, about half an inch of rain had fallen in the Fargo area and the southern valley.

"We might still see another half an inch," said meteorologist Vince Godon, at the National Weather Service office in Grand Forks.

The Red in Fargo was just 2 feet short of its 18-foot flood stage on Thursday afternoon. "It's not going to take much to push it over," Godon said. The flooding is expected to be little more than a nuisance — "just a little bit outside its banks," he said.

A floating bike bridge between Fargo and Moorhead, Minn., was to be removed from the Red River on Friday because of possible flooding, officials said.

Flooding also was expected along the Wild Rice River near Abercrombie, south of Fargo.

The western part of the state got a rain-snow mix Thursday. It expected to turn to snow late Thursday night with the heaviest amounts ranging from 2 inches to 4 inches in the Jamestown area. Forecasters said the line between rain and snow is hard to predict.

"It depends on where this system goes and how the cold air wraps into it," Bismarck meteorologist Sam Walker said.

In eastern North Dakota, the wet weather was not a good sign for residents worried about another round of spring flooding. They fought a major flood last spring, when the Red stayed out of its banks for a record 61 days in Fargo.

"It's not good having the river so high going into freeze-up," Godon said. "But it's just one factor."