textproduct: Grand Forks

KEY MESSAGES

- A period of rain and wet snow to move thru the area early this morning. Coating of new snow along Manitoba border.

- West to northwest winds will increase across portions of the Devils Lake Basin and east central North Dakota, with gusts to 45 mph by Wednesday afternoon. A wind advisory is in effect.

UPDATE

Issued at 929 AM CDT Wed Apr 8 2026

Periods of heavy snow continue across northwest Minnesota this morning and will continue to push east as the morning progresses. Clearing will be fairly quick on the backside as westerly winds increase. We'll be monitoring for additional snow showers this afternoon which may periodically reduce visibility with the gusty winds this afternoon.

UPDATE Issued at 619 AM CDT Wed Apr 8 2026

Initial trough with wind shift to the west is near Walhalla to west of Grand Forks to Cooperstown then west of Oakes. Ahead of it is a band of rain and snow. Snow far north...Highway 2 area mix of rain/snow...and mainly rain far south. This shifts east the next few hours out of the forecast area later this morning. Brief clearing is noted moving in ahead of a cold front which will move into DVL basin midday and eastward after that. There will be scattered showers with this feature. HRRR indicates temps warm up ahead of this cold front so that showers will be mainly rain variety.

UPDATE Issued at 433 AM CDT Wed Apr 8 2026

Will update for all snow along MB border Cavalier ND eastward. About an hours worth of enough snow rates combined with night to get some accumulation on roads.

UPDATE Issued at 406 AM CDT Wed Apr 8 2026

Main band of precipitation is from Cavalier and Langdon thru Devils Lake and extends to Bismarck. Band of precipitation is ahead of a trough in which winds turn westerly behind it. Temps suggest mostly liquid light rain (up to 0.10 inch) but enough cold air aloft to turn rain to wet snow along northern tier of counties so far early this morning from Cando to Langdon and likely this will continue as the band moves east. Temps will be near or above freezing by a degree or two, so travel impacts are not anticipated but a brief coating of new snow on grassy surfaces and other colder surfaces is likely.

Actual cold front pushes into the DVL basin toward 17z then eastward thru the afternoon. Band of rain showers will form with this and this is shown nicely by short term models/CAMs. Sfc temps suggest rain showers, but a switch to snow showers very possible as systems moves out and temperatures drop behind this front across the northern fcst area. Once again a coating of snow in grassy areas, but no travel impacts anticipated.

Gusty west winds behind this front. Winds to mix down isnt too impressive and there is cold advection but larger pressure rises are in SD this aftn. So marginal wind advisory anticipated with gusts 35-38 kts in E ND advisory area. No change to area of wind advisory at this time.

..Wind advisory for parts of eastern ND tomorrow afternoon

Southerly winds continue to ramp up as the surface low deepens to our northwest, but so far have remained mostly in the 20 to 30 mph range. On the backside of the surface low tomorrow, winds will shift to the west and then northwest, and there will be some decent cold air advection. The best pressure rises seem more over SD than our forecast area but still could be enough PGF and cold air advection for the higher winds. HREF doesn't have very high probabilities for gusts over 40 mph tomorrow, but the NBM is up to 80 percent and momentum transfer is up around 38 kts for gusts. Went with a wind advisory for portions of the Devils Lake Basin down into the central Red River Valley for tomorrow afternoon.

AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z THURSDAY/

Issued at 619 AM CDT Wed Apr 8 2026

Changeable day. Initial trough moving into the RRV and will track east this morning with south winds turning west-southwest. Cold front arrives into DVL basin midday and moves east and behind it west-northwest wind with potential gusts 35-40 kts in E ND. Band of rain and snow moves east this morning, then a period of clearing then clouds with the front. For the most part cloud cover later today is on the MVFR/VFR border. Showers are expected to form along this cold front and push thru this aftn, uncertain coverage. Temps suggest light rain.

FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

ND...Wind Advisory until 7 PM CDT this evening for NDZ006-014-015- 024-026>030-038-039-054. MN...None.