A week ago, Fargo began breaking the record for latest 50-degree high ever; that record was set in 1881, the year of Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Long Winter"

Local record for latest 50-degree day to be surpassed today | INFORUM | Fargo, ND

[April 17, 2013] FARGO – Spring now is officially tardy in record-smashing fashion: Today was for more than a century the date marking the latest arrival of a 50-degree day here, a record set in 1881.

“We’re going to probably end up shattering it,” WDAY meteorologist Daryl Ritchison said of the 132-year-old record...The winter of 1880-81 was made famous by Laura Ingalls Wilder through her novel, “The Long Winter,” describing her pioneer family’s experience in DeSmet, S.D. That winter, which set many weather records in the Midwest, stretched from October to April, a weather feat now duplicated.