textproduct: Bismarck

KEY MESSAGES

- Light snow will linger across the east through tonight, with patchy to areas of blowing snow north, central, and east.

- Chance of accumulating snow in the southwest and the east Thursday. - Near to below normal temperatures are expected this afternoon the weekend.

UPDATE

Issued at 628 PM CST Wed Feb 18 2026

Winds have diminished below Wind Advisory thus have let the Wind Advisory expire on time. Light snow continues to linger across central and eastern portions with breezing winds occurring with it. Meanwhile, snow has diminished across the west along with diminishing winds. Blowing snow model showing these diminished winds fall just short of moderate and advisory level impacts for this evening. This is also supported by NDDOT webcams across these western areas. Thus have decided to cancel the Winter Storm Warning and Winter Weather Advisory for areas where snow and winds have diminished, which is mainly the northwest and areas west of the Missouri River. Central and eastern areas have continued their Winter Storm Warning and Winter Weather Advisory for the time being, although the diminish snow and wind trend will have to be monitored through the evening.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 300 PM CST Wed Feb 18 2026

The upper level low that continues to bring winter weather to eastern half of the state. The upper low is located over eastern Minnesota. This upper level low will push eastward with the westward extent of the deformation band stretching from Turtle Mountains down into the Red River Valley. There is some lingering snow in the central North Dakota and the southern James River Valley. Snow is forecast to move out of the central portion of the state lingering out east tonight. Snow accumulations up to an inch is still possible for Bottineau and Rolette counties.

Behind the upper level low surface high pressure is dropping down into eastern Montana. This will cause a reduction of winds as the surface pressure gradient weakens. However, windy conditions will linger across much of the state this afternoon resulting in widespread blowing snow. Wind speed around 30 mph with gusts up to 50 are still possible across the southern half of the state this afternoon. The aforementioned colder airmass is forecast to drop low temperatures a few degrees below zero across the northeast while the remainder of county warning area will drop down into the single digits to lower teens.

The upper level low over eastern Minnesota will stall out over the Great Lakes leaving cyclonic flow aloft. This will continue to produce wrap around snow across the eastern half of the state through Thursday evening. No more than 1 inch is forecast for the eastern half of the state. Another wave will move through South Dakota possibly clipping the southwest if some light snow Thursday. Broad troughing will dominate the upper level pattern into the weekend across the central US. The upper low stalled out over the Great Lake is for cast retrograde northwestward ejecting into Manitoba bring slight chances of snow Friday across the east. Broad troughing will keep the colder airmass in place across the Northern Plains resulting in colder temperatures. Lows could range from 5 to 10 degrees below zeros across the North through the weekend with the south being around zero. High temperatures are forecast to be around 10 degrees below normal through the weekend.

An upper level ridge will begin to amplify across Western CONUS this weekend moving into the Plains early next week. This could lead to temperatures warming up across the southern half of the state. Zonal flow may return the middle of next week enabling cooler temperature to linger across the northern half of the state. This pattern shift will increase the chances for precipitation chances by the middle of next week.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z FRIDAY/

Issued at 628 PM CST Wed Feb 18 2026

Abundant cloud cover will linger MVFR ceilings tonight into Thursday morning. Light snow and patchy blowing snow may also be found tonight, mainly in north central and eastern sites such as KMOT and KJMS. A steady northwest wind will also be found through tonight. Thursday, steady northwest wind will remain for most sites. Some patchy blowing snow is possible, although confidence was not high enough to place in the TAF at this time. MVFR ceilings may also linger into Thursday with some sites seeing clouds lift to low VFR heights.

BIS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

Winter Storm Warning until midnight CST tonight for NDZ003>005- 011>013. Winter Weather Advisory until midnight CST tonight for NDZ021>023-025-035>037-046>048-050-051.