Car slides off the road near Moorhead on Feb. 18, 2026
FARGO (KFGO) – As a storm pushes through the Dakotas and Minnesota, the North Dakota Department of Transportation is advising no travel in parts of the state.
The entire northern third of North Dakota is under a Winter Storm Warning until midnight Wednesday into Thursday.
The snow impacted road conditions and travel, according to North Dakota Highway Patrol troopers. In the Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo metro, speeds were reduced to 30-40 miles per hour during the morning commute.
Sgt. Kristjan Helgoe says he has seen several property crashes and drivers sliding off roadways.
“Take the extra time that you need this morning, it’s going to be a slower travel to work than what you typically see. It’s wet, heavy snow on the roadway so it kind of pulls you in one direction or the other if you’re driving too fast for conditions and you can lose control quite easily today,” Sgt. Helgoe said.
When a vehicle goes off the roadway, that can create congestion for other drivers, too.
“If we have a tow truck on scene trying to pull a vehicle out, we’re most likely going to block a lane. So now we’re reducing from four lanes down to three, or two lanes down to one. So then that creates traffic congestion. So yeah, sometimes that becomes an issue.”
The Department of Transportation snow plows are out in full force. Sgt. Helgoe asks drivers to give the plow operators room to work.
“I saw four of them [plows] staggered this morning, I saw some vehicles a little bit too close behind them. You never know what kind of maneuver they’re going to take, go on a ramp or back out on the roadway. So just create that greater following distance for those DOT plows so they can work to get those roadways clear for everybody this morning.”
Semi crash near Barnesville on Feb. 18, 2026
Minnesota State Patrol Sgt. Jesse Grabow says troopers are responding to several spin outs and vehicles were running off the road. Grabow says roads are slippery and drivers should slow down.
For the latest road conditions in the region, follow the links below:
North Dakota: https://travel.dot.nd.gov/
Minnesota: 511mn.org
South Dakota: sd511.org
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