textproduct: Grand Forks

KEY MESSAGES

- Blizzard conditions still remain late this evening but are becoming increasingly sparse.

- Arctic air late in the week will bring cold weather impacts to the region.

UPDATE

Issued at 1117 PM CST Sun Jan 18 2026

Spotty areas withing the Minnesota side of the Red River Valley remain poor yet this evening but diminishing winds should see these areas to continue to improve over the next 3 hours. Unsure if we will extended the blizzard warning simply for these spotty areas or let it drop at its currently scheduled time of midnight. Did lower temps slightly for the night as good radiational cooing conditions are in place with this bringing some wind chills into the minus 40s now but only for an hour or two consecutively for any one location. The thought is this will limit exposure impacts and not warrant an extreme cold warning tonight.

That is a little foreshadowing for what is coming later this week however as we will likely have multiple days in a row next weekend with extreme cold warnings in effect.

UPDATE Issued at 614 PM CST Sun Jan 18 2026

Let a large chunk of the current headlines go at 6pm as webcams and area obs support widespread mile or greater visibility with things trending in the right direction for the that become the norm in the areas over the next 3 hours. As for the Red River valley and parts of northwest/west central Minnesota lingering HCRs combined with sustained winds around 30mph and gusts nearing 50 mph still are leading to maybe not as widespread of blizzard conditions as they were 6 hours ago but still poor enough to keep those headlines in place. Went ahead and extended the warning to midnight to account for uncertainty in when HCRs might end but expect it to go no later than that.

..Late Week Cold

A chunk of arctic air dives south late week, bringing cold temperatures, with highs well below zero both Friday and Saturday, potentially lasting into Sunday as well. Probabilities for wind chills of -40F or lower are already greater then 60% over much of the FA.

AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z TUESDAY/

Issued at 1117 PM CST Sun Jan 18 2026

HCRs have largely ended at least at taf sites with MVFR still lingering at GFK and FAR and BJI reporting an OVC MVFR deck for a reason that cant be quantified currently. Regardless VFR conditions should become common in the next 6 hours with winds fading. Low VFR to MVFR can be expected at all terminals this afternoon with a passing system but will be short live improving to VFR by the end of the period.

FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

ND...Blizzard Warning until midnight CST tonight for NDZ053. Cold Weather Advisory until noon CST Monday for NDZ006>008- 014>016-024-026>030-038-039-049-052>054. MN...Blizzard Warning until midnight CST tonight for MNZ001>004-007- 027-029-030-040. Cold Weather Advisory until noon CST Monday for MNZ001>009- 013>017-022>024-027>032-040.