textproduct: Grand Forks

KEY MESSAGES

- A few snow showers moving through late this afternoon into tonight are not expected to bring any advisory level winter impacts, but could reduce visibility below 1 mile at times.

- Warm temperatures return next week, bringing periodic chances for near critical to critical fire weather.

..Synopsis

The remnants of the winter system from last night remains across portions of northwest Minnesota, bringing periods of snow across that area. With the increased solar angle this time of year, sublimation processes allow for winter impacts to be significantly limited, really only arising in the form of visibility reductions.

Deep upper troughing will keep our temperatures cold and dry this weekend. High temperatures this weekend will be generally be fairly cool in the upper 30s to low 40s. Heights begin to rise early next week, so temperatures will rise through next week. Moisture return is meager at best. With temperatures in the 60s and 70s expected next week, this brings the potential for near critical to critical fire weather through next week. The greatest chances for this look to be midweek where HDWI probabilities really highlight exceeding 90th percentile. ERC percentiles per NRCC look to become much more favorable next week, and with live fuel moistures remaining at 30%, Red Flag Warnings are a possibility depending on mesoscale features such as cloud cover and vertical mixing, which carries a lower predictability horizon.

The next chances for precipitation look to be late next week as ridging propagates eastward and returns moisture flow to the region. The profiles appear to be warm, so at this point in time it appears more likely than not that rain will be the primary issue, however winter precipitation cannot be ruled out depending on how things shake out. In any case, EFI isn't setting off any alarm bells for precipitation amounts, so there is a low probability for any significant impacts at this time.

AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z SUNDAY/

Issued at 645 AM CDT Sat Apr 18 2026

MVFR ceilings and even a few scattered flurries are hanging on at the MN airports, but further west there has been some clearing, with sites all VFR. Winds from the northwest will continue to be breezy through this morning, with gusts above 25 kts. Winds will slowly come down this evening. There will be another round of clouds as a weak system moves through, although ceilings are expected to be VFR. Snow showers are possible in the later part of the period but not confident enough to include in the TAFs at this point.

FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

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