textproduct: Grand Forks

KEY MESSAGES

- Dense fog west of the Red River Valley through early tonight.

- Showers and a few thunderstorms through tonight, with lightning being the main impact.

UPDATE

Issued at 1205 AM CDT Fri Oct 17 2025

Likely will end dense fog advisory a bit earlier than 06Z as only sites reporting 1/4 mile are outside the boundaries of the headline. Should continue to see improvement with winds shifting to the southwest as warm front moves north. A few lingering showers, particularly in the north and east, bringing a bit more additional rain.

UPDATE Issued at 955 PM CDT Thu Oct 16 2025

Warm front lifting into the southern portions of the Devils Lake Basin has allowed fog to clear out of the more southerly counties and there have been improvements up to 2 miles even up to the Canadian border. However, a few web cams are showing some patchy foggy spots holding on. Will hold onto at least the northern portion of the advisory a bit longer, but may be able to cancel early if web cams and obs continue to improve. A few light rain showers still along the Canadian border and parts of west central MN, but additional accumulations should be minimal and low impact.

UPDATE Issued at 644 PM CDT Thu Oct 16 2025

Some additional showers entering parts of west central MN as 925-850mb frontogenesis gets going over that area. Adjusted POPs upward a bit. Rest of the CWA appears to be in a bit of a lull on radar, but some very light showers/drizzle starting to redevelop along the Highway 2 corridor. Fog mainly over our northwestern counties as expected. Some of the models try and bring some pretty low visibility into the Barnes county area and dew point depressions are pretty low at some spots in that county. However, not finding much evidence on web cams yet and Valley City vis is still good. Think that with the warm front lifting north any fog threat that far south will be short lived. However, will take a second look at things before the next update to determine if the Dense Fog Advisory needs to be expanded.

..Thunderstorms through Tonight

Outside of the rouge thunderstorm that remains in northwestern MN, a "lull" has settled over much of the area as of mid afternoon. A ribbon of elevated MUCAPE does still exist ahead of the warm front. There will likely be shower/storm development in this ribbon during the evening hours. Can't rule out a few lightning strikes/rumbles of thunder with the instability present. With the increase in showers, PoPs increase a bit from mid evening into the early overnight, generally along and north of Highway 2.

AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z SATURDAY/

Issued at 1205 AM CDT Fri Oct 17 2025

A range of VFR to IFR conditions. Some spots could see conditions go down to MVFR from VFR. Most airports will improve to VFR by tomorrow. Winds have shifted to the southwest for all but KBJI, and that spot will become southwesterly by morning. Gusts up to 25 kts will be possible.

FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

ND...Dense Fog Advisory until 1 AM CDT Friday for NDZ006-007-014- 015-026-054. MN...None.