textproduct: Grand Forks

KEY MESSAGES

- Much warmer this weekend with elevated fire weather potential.

- Snow chances return for the workweek.

..FIRE WEATHER CONCERNS

With the current warming pattern through the weekend, we do begin to turn our attention to fire weather. The highest confidence is in winds with a modest confidence in minimum relative humidity. Strong westerly winds between 20-25 mph will exist through Sunday afternoon with occasional gusts approaching 35-40 mph. For today, winds will remain mostly southwesterly with a shift to westerly after sunset. Relative humidity values will remain below 50% in regions without any meaningful snowpack. Based on satellite, this is pretty much a west to east line of Valley City to Park Rapids and all points southward. The warmest spots tomorrow could fall as low as the 30s. With the elevated wind speeds expected through tomorrow, near critical fire weather conditions may arise in the southern portions of our area. Finer fuels should be the primary concern as ERC values remain generally between 20-40% in the forecast through tomorrow based on NRCC percentile plots and HRB values sit at 30.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z SUNDAY/

Issued at 1110 AM CST Sat Mar 7 2026

IFR ceilings should continue to improve this afternoon as satellite trends show thinning of cloud coverage. VFR conditions will prevail after this occurs with increasing westerly winds. Gusts may max out this evening around 20-30 knots. Precipitation will be working its way from northwest to southeast this evening and overnight and fall primarily as rain, however probabilities for precipitation are greatest north of all of our TAF sites, so it wasn't added to this issuance. Regardless, because of the warm temperatures, aviation impacts will be very low and generally restricted to visibility reductions to MVFR. This should improve prior to 12z, giving way to VFR conditions.

FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

ND...None. MN...None.