textproduct: Grand Forks

KEY MESSAGES

- Gusty northwest winds of 40 mph and higher Friday may bring localized blowing and drifting snow impacts during the afternoon.

..Friday Winds

A cold front will push through the FA Friday afternoon and evening. CAA advection appears strongest in the north, closer to the low tracking through Canada. With a tight pressure gradient, it would seem reasonable to expect wind gusts of 40 mph or greater. How much higher is uncertain. Model soundings show a wide spread in the degree of mixing, which will determine if we tap into "lower end" scenario winds (40 to 45 mph gusts) or "higher end" scenario winds (50+ mph gusts).

Regardless of winds, the state of the snowpack by Friday morning appears fairly paltry. Freezing rain Tuesday morning iced over snowpack in the south. Southerly then northwesterly winds have drifted, swept, and settled snowpack across the north. Add in a 24 to 30 hour period from around Noon on Thursday to early Friday afternoon of temperatures hovering near/above freezing, the current snowpack will likely be in rough shape to blow around. This leaves us reliant on new snowfall to produce widespread blowing snow impacts. While there will likely be some falling snow around the time of the frontal passage, it does not look to lead to significant accumulations. Therefore, Fridays forecast trend has been more towards a wind event, with less likelihood of blowing snow impacts.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z THURSDAY/

Issued at 1123 AM CST Wed Feb 25 2026

No major changes, with VFR prevailing throughout the TAF period. There is a low chance for MVFR ceilings at KBJI Thursday morning, otherwise no category changes are expected. Wind direction has been variable throughout the morning hours, but we should start to see a more consistent southerly direction as we go into the afternoon. This will slowly shift to the southwest and then more due west by the end of the TAF period.

FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

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