Answers:
Consider two storms in the vicinity of Fargo-Moorhead (FM), storm #1 and storm #2, which move progressively toward the northeast (as marked by time-steps L₁, L₂, and L₃).  In which case would the wind be a backing wind, and in which case would it be a veering wind?

As storm #1 passes to the south of F-M, the wind will shift from the southeast (at the time the low is at location L1), to the east (at the time the low is at location L2), to the northeast (at the time the low is at location L3).  This can be illustrated as shown below.

By the same reasoning, the winds at F-M for storm #2 will begin in the southwest, shift to the west, and then to the northwest, a veering wind.

The storm track for storm #1 brings the northwest quadrant of the low over the F-M area.  Since the strongest part of a winter storm is often in this quadrant, this is the scenario mostly likely to produce severe winter weather.  Thus, a backing wind is the one that often accompanies stormy weather.
 

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