textproduct: Duluth

KEY MESSAGES

- Overnight and morning fog and stratus over the next few days. The fog will reduce visibilities to a mile or less for portions of the Northland this morning.

- A spring weather system arrives Thursday night and Friday and lasts through early Saturday morning. Light to moderate rain, rumbles of thunder, a wintry mix and a bit of snow are all possible.

- Another spring system will move across the region early next week, bringing another round of rain/snow mixture.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 313 AM CST Wed Mar 4 2026

A weak front is currently stalled across the Northland, bringing widespread low clouds and areas of fog early this morning. Some locations, mainly along and north of the Iron Range are seeing visibility values below one mile as of 3 AM. While visibilities improve during the day today, the front will linger through Thursday. Unseasonably warm air continues to move in aloft, which combined with melting snow on the ground, will keep moisture trapped near the surface. This makes fog very likely again tonight and through Thursday night for most of the region.

Daytime temperatures will stay quite mild today and Thursday, with highs reaching the 40s and 50s. However, areas along the North Shore will be much cooler on Thursday as winds turn to the northeast, pulling chilly air off Lake Superior.

The weather turns much more active late Thursday night through Friday as a strong low pressure moves from where it develops in Colorado across Nebraska into Iowa on Friday, then northeast across Wisconsin Friday night. Expect widespread rain to spread across the area beginning early Friday morning, with moderate rainfall amounts of up to three quarters of an inch possible in northwest Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota. We are also monitoring the potential for some rumbles of thunder, mainly south of the Iron Range. As colder air arrives Friday night, the rain will transition to a wintry mix and eventually light snow. While significant snow accumulation is not currently expected, slick travel is possible heading into Saturday. Snowfall amounts will be greatest over northern Minnesota, where 1 to 3 inches is currently forecast.

Another spring system will move across the area Monday through Wednesday of next week. Ahead of it, warm air will help boost temperatures well above normal on Sunday and Monday. Precipitation chances are currently highest Monday night into Tuesday as a fairly strong low pressure system moves across the Mid Mississippi river valley. Currently there is a lot of spread in timing and track between individual models, making the signal not very clear in the ensembles.

AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z THURSDAY/

Issued at 1134 PM CST Tue Mar 3 2026

Satellite shows IFR/LIFR stratus deck expanding across north central MN. With the abundance of melting snow we saw today dewpoints remain moist enough to support the development of fog. Both the fog and stratus will likely linger through the morning hours before giving way to some brief VFR conditions in the afternoon. Expect for INL where they may be locked into stratus through the day. Tomorrow evening looks to be similar with stratus and fog once again developing and expanding across the region.

MARINE /FOR NEARSHORE WATERS OF WESTERN LAKE SUPERIOR/

Issued at 313 AM CST Wed Mar 4 2026

Expect relatively quiet conditions for today with waves under 2 feet. However, northeast winds will increase tonight into Thursday to 20 to 25 knots with gusts up to 30 knots. Waves will build to 2 to 4 feet, especially along the North Shore and the Twin Ports. Small Craft Advisories will likely be needed starting tonight and continuing through Thursday. Wind speeds and waves decrease while remaining out of the northeast Thursday night, then remaining under 10 knots through Friday.

For the open water discussion, refer to the NWS Marquette Area Forecast Discussion at weather.gov/mqt.

DLH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

MN...None. WI...None. MARINE...None.