Hey! I'm between Williston and the North Pole.
I have family in Williston. The oil boom has driven prices way up. The rent for an apartment is approaching $3k per month, if you can find a place. The work camps are the only option.
-40 isn't really that common. It only happens for a week or two each year. The rest of the time it's only -20.
Seriously, if you head to North Dakota, set money aside for warm clothing and buy it from a place that caters to oil workers in cold places. Most companies will require fire retardant clothing. "Fire retardant" is industry jargon for "not warm". What you wear underneath is real important.
If you have a block heater in your vehicle, you already know what to expect for weather. If you don't know what a block heater is - get one and good luck.
An actress worked in Winnipeg (also between N.D. and the N.P.) coined the phrase "nostricle". That's the icicle that forms under your nose. You'll learn some other words to describe the cold, too.
Get a passport. You might want to visit Santa and the north pole isn't in the U.S.
