textproduct: Grand Forks

KEY MESSAGES

- Heavy snow is forecasted Friday evening into Saturday. A wide swath of 6 to 12 inches of snow is expected across much of eastern North Dakota and northwest to west central Minnesota. Far northeastern North Dakota into the northern Red River Valley will see lower snowfall totals.

UPDATE

Issued at 1111 PM CDT Thu Apr 2 2026

Snowfall rates continue to taper this evening based on radar trends and visibility observations. Snow is expected to continue overnight but conditions should remain roughly the same as snowfall rates become mostly light. As such, the advisory should be allowed to expire in the next 2 hours.

UPDATE Issued at 643 PM CDT Thu Apr 2 2026

Snowfall continues across much of the area with a moderate snow deformation band over northwest Minnesota. Webcams indicate accumulation efficiency increasing, so the Winter Weather Advisory was expanded over to include the Roseau to Eastern Polk line of counties, as this band is not likelyh to move much any time soon. An additional 1-4 inches is possible within this band. As this system continues to nudge northeast, conditions will improve from south to north. The Winter Weather Advisory in North Dakota and west-central Minnesota was allowed to expire to reflect this, with continued snow mainly east of the valley in west-central Minnesota. Further expansion of the advisory westward is possible into the Greater Grand Forks area, however accumulation efficiency is heavily limited right now even with the higher nudge in recent CAMs in QPF. This is because temperatures within the valley remain closer to freezing than outside of the valley. We'll be monitoring over the next 1-2 hours to determine if further expansion is necessary, but given temperatures it is more likely than not that we won't need an advisory.

..Heavy snow Friday into Saturday

With the main upper low swinging into the region for the end of the week and more moisture available, the setup is primed for moderate to heavy snow. While there are still differences in the ensembles in how far north and west the system tracks, probabilities for over 6 inches of snow are in the 60 to 90 percent range for all but the far northwestern counties as well as our southeastern edge. Some of the blended solutions were trying to drop over 12 to 15 inches of snow in southeastern ND, but given that is over 90th percentile of the NBM and the fact there will be some compaction/melting, this seems overdone. NBM50th percentile and the new NBM 5.0 leaned a bit more in the 6 to 12 inch direction, which seemed more reasonable so went with that for WSW wording and graphics. Winds will pick up Saturday and can't rule out some drifting, but widespread blowing snow does not seem to be likely with this system.

AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z SATURDAY/

Issued at 1111 PM CDT Thu Apr 2 2026

Flight categories will remain at least MVFR with periodic IFR through the entire TAF period. Ceilings will remain below 2000 ft for the most part and changes to VFR should be very isolated. Snow will taper off through the overnight hours, at least improving visibility through tomorrow morning before the next winter storm arrives. As the next winter storm enters the region, expect visibilities to once again become MVFR to IFR, with the potential for LIFR/VLIFR towards sunset as snowfall rates intensify. Ceilings should remain MVFR to IFR during intense snowfall. Winds will remain from the northeast to east for the entire TAF period with no significant changes in direction or speed anticipated.

FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

ND...Winter Storm Warning from 1 PM Friday to 7 PM CDT Saturday for NDZ024-026>030-038-039-049-052-053. Winter Weather Advisory from 1 PM Friday to 7 PM CDT Saturday for NDZ006>008-014>016-054. MN...Winter Weather Advisory until 1 AM CDT Friday for MNZ001-005- 006-008-009-013>017-022>024-027-028-031-032. Winter Storm Warning from 1 PM Friday to 7 PM CDT Saturday for MNZ001>003-029. Winter Weather Advisory from 1 PM Friday to 7 PM CDT Saturday for MNZ004-007. Winter Storm Warning from 4 PM Friday to 1 AM CDT Sunday for MNZ005-006-008-009-013>017-022>024-027-028-030>032. Winter Weather Advisory from 1 PM Friday to 1 AM CDT Sunday for MNZ040.