textproduct: Grand Forks

KEY MESSAGES

- Heavy snow is forecasted this evening through Saturday morning with a wide swath of 6 to 12 inches of snow.

UPDATE

Issued at 625 PM CDT Fri Apr 3 2026

Snow has begun to overspread much of eastern North Dakota with roads becoming snow covered in the Sheyenne and James River Valleys. Visibility simply from snow rates is already down to 1/sm in places of heavier snow with this expected to become widespread overnight. As the sun sets in the next hour expect snow to begin to accumulate much more efficiently across both grassy and man made surfaces.

..Heavy Snow Friday Evening into Saturday

The main forecast challenge is the track of the strong low pressure system that will impact the region from this evening into Saturday. Over the past few days, model guidance has wavered back and forth between a further north track and one further to the south. The latest surface analysis shows a low over Kansas/Nebraska, which would lean into the more southern spectrum of scenarios. Model guidance has also come in further to the south today, with the latest run of the NBM pushing the heaviest snow south 20 or 30 miles compared to last night. All told, this leaves much of our FA in a position to see hefty snowfall accumulations, but takes the heaviest snowfall a bit further south then previous forecasts.

As for how things will play out over the next 24 hours: snow will break out this afternoon, first in southeastern ND, expanding area wide this evening. The strongest forcing arrives after sunset, which will drive a period of 1+ inch per hour snowfall rates in a band somewhere from southeastern ND into northwestern MN. During the heaviest snowfall rates, conditions will rapidly deteriorate. Expect these poor conditions to last into Saturday morning. As the upper low pulls away and fills late Saturday morning into the afternoon, snowfall rates will decrease, with snow then ceasing from west to east. Snowfall will end area wide by late Saturday evening.

There remains uncertainty on where the cutoff of heavy snowfall will occur on the systems northern edge. Northern portions of the warning will ride the line on if they see 6 inches or more of snow. The gradient of snowfall totals will likely be very tight, which means totals will vary significantly over small distances, especially in the advisory and northern edge of the warned areas. Based on the latest forecast track of the system, the likelihood for heavy (6+ inch) accumulations to extend all the way northward into the advisory area is low. Headlines remain unchanged for these reasons. The bottom line is that travel will be difficult in the warned area after dark this evening, persisting into Saturday morning. If you must travel, make sure to check the latest forecast information.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z SATURDAY/

Issued at 625 PM CDT Fri Apr 3 2026

As snow begins to overspread the region a few areas in the north remain VFR but will quickly drop to MVFR cigs and LIFR/IFR cigs by midnight. Vis will depend on snow rates at any given but once snow becomes widespread expect frequent 1/2sm to 1sm with occasional 1/4sm. This will improve by 12-18z tomorrow but overall sub-par flying weather. Winds picking up late tomorrow morning from the north with gusts upwards of 20kts for fargo but blowing snow will be of low concern due to the wet nature of the snow. MVFR through the overnight at best for most with a 6-12 hr period of LIFR and brief VLIFR possible due to heavy snow rates.

FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

ND...Winter Storm Warning until 7 PM CDT Saturday for NDZ026-027. Winter Storm Warning until 7 PM CDT Saturday for NDZ024- 028>030-038-039-049-052-053. Winter Weather Advisory until 7 PM CDT Saturday for NDZ006>008- 014>016-054. MN...Winter Storm Warning until 7 PM CDT Saturday for MNZ001. Winter Storm Warning until 7 PM CDT Saturday for MNZ002-003- 029-040. Winter Weather Advisory until 7 PM CDT Saturday for MNZ004-007. Winter Storm Warning until 1 AM CDT Sunday for MNZ005-006-008- 009-013>017-022>024-027-028-030>032.