May Day was a week and a half ago, but when some folks saw the horizontal snow Saturday morning they probably felt like tapping out an S-O-S anyway.

A tenth of an inch of snow might not look like much in January, but in May - with that nice green backdrop - it's a little more impressive. With a stiff north wind of about 20 mph, the snow came down sideways until it stopped altogether a little after 9 a.m.

This is North Dakota, so the conditions didn't slow down any outdoor events Saturday. High school girls played tennis and high school boys played baseball, even though the temperature at noon was still in the 30s.

Out near the Bismarck landfill, the annual city auction sale went off without a hitch. Actually, there were some hitches, attached to vehicles that got sold. Two hundred bikes also went, along with tractors, snowblowers and other equipment that was impounded or the city didn't want anymore.

Bismarck Police Lt. Mike Wardzinski said the snow probably didn't deter many people from attending the sale.

"Weather doesn't bother me," he said, standing out in the stuff. "It looks pretty normal out here. Stuff is selling and there are plenty of people."

The snow quickly melted, amounting to about seven-hundredths of an inch of moisture - about half what Bismarck got in the drizzle that lingered in town on Thursday. While Saturday's precipitation may have come in a form folks weren't ready for, at least it came. Bismarck and much of western North Dakota are still very dry, and beggars can't be choosers.

There's another slight chance for rain in the seven-day forecast. The National Weather Service models are calling for a 40 percent chance of showers Monday night and a 30 percent chance for Tuesday morning.

Temperatures should also warm up today and into next week, to the more seasonal low- to mid-60s.

(Reach reporter Tony Spilde at 250-8260 or tony.spilde@bismarcktribune.com.)