textproduct: Grand Forks

KEY MESSAGES

- Light snow this evening into tonight. Warm temperatures Thursday into early next week. No impactful weather is expected.

UPDATE

Issued at 948 PM CST Tue Feb 3 2026

Still getting some light BR in the northern Red River Valley and northwestern MN with 2-5SM in visibility. Not getting anything below 2 miles and there doesn't appear to be any deposition/freezing drizzle falling. A bit of light snow along the trough axis, but amounts still looking very light. Some scattered flurries lingering in Canada and western ND upstream after the main band moves through, so included a mention later tonight. No impacts expected.

UPDATE Issued at 550 PM CST Tue Feb 3 2026

Getting some fog reported around Cando and Langdon with visibility down to 1/4 mile at times. Web cams in the area look cloudy/foggy, but not all completely socked in with low visibility. Judging by obs in north central ND, think vis should come up a bit as the center of the surface low moves west and snow starts falling. For now only added patchy fog mention in the grids but will keep an eye out for sustained dense fog.

..Synopsis

Ridging over the western US is keeping the Northern Plains in northwest flow, with weak waves propagating through. One such wave passed through this morning, providing light snow. Yet another wave will track through tonight, with our area under a weak WAA regime. This will drive light snow, but accumulations will be limited, only up to a few tenths of an inch. Winds will remain light, under 15 mph, so blowing snow is not a concern.

Ridging to our west only continues to build Wednesday into Thursday. Temperatures locally start to rise, as a surge of warmer air advects east. Highs on Thursday will rise above freezing area wide, with the NBM showing a tight clustering of temperatures from the mid 30s to low 40s area wide. This warm up does get interrupted by a cold front Thursday night into early Friday, but its short lived. Winds will pick up Thursday night as the bubble of CAA works through from north to south. However, the warm temperatures ahead of these stronger winds should aid the existing snowpack in crusting over. Therefore, blowing and drifting snow concerns should be mitigated.

As the main ridge axis over the west coast translates eastward this weekend, temperatures will warm again, with this general warming trend lasting into early next week. There are signs that this may be the start of a larger shift in the synoptic pattern. With troughing over the western US and ridging through the plains states, ensembles are hinting at southwest flow developing, which could open the door for more system(s) next week.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z THURSDAY/

Issued at 550 PM CST Tue Feb 3 2026

Some fog moving into the region north of KDVL, but at this point think that it will stay north of the TAF sites. Continued previous shift's mention of 3-5SM with light snow as the brief round of precipitation moves through. Sites will decline to MVFR or even IFR in the next few hours, with KDVL and KGFK already there. Some improvement at a few of the TAF sites towards the end of the period, but otherwise most of tomorrow looks to be MVFR. Winds will shift around from the south back to the west then southwest, mostly with speeds below 12 kts.

FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

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