textproduct: Grand Forks

KEY MESSAGES

- Dangerously cold wind chills 40 below to 55 below zero today thru Friday noon. As winds lighten up Friday afternoon and weekend wind chills 30 below to 45 below zero.

..Very Cold into the Weekend

A secondary cold front is moving thru the area early this morning with a wind shift from west-southwest to more northwest-north. Core of the cold air upstream will be over the area this afternoon into Friday morning as high pressure slides thru southwest Saskatchewan and into northwest North Dakota during this period. Enough wind today (15-25 kts) to bring areas of blowing snow, mostly low level stuff blowing across the road, today and with the wind and falling temperatures today wind chills will lower significantly reaching the colder than 40 below in most areas late today and holding in the 45 below to 55 below zero range tonight into Friday midday. Winds lighten up Friday as high is just west/southwest of us, thus wind chills not as cold and look to hover in the 30 below to 45 below zero range Friday afternoon into Saturday morning.

Focus though of the cold and impacts are today thru noon Friday. Consensus of the NWS office that still had extreme cold watch was to leave watch in place as not clear yet where advisory vs warning would be 18z Fri-18z Sat period.

Did have flurries mentioned today, probably more like ice crystals, as will have partial sunshine with likely thin stratocu developing and moving thru. Sunnier Friday.

Temps below normal this weekend with highs not reaching above zero til Monday. Winds while not strong, will be enough esp at night to bring low wind chills into the advisory or possibly warning impact range.

AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z FRIDAY/

Issued at 1112 PM CST Wed Jan 21 2026

Intermittent MVFR to VFR conditions can be expected for the TAF period but with high uncertainty on cloud coverage. Cloud bases should range anywhere from 600 to 5000 ft but the main question is if these will become ceilings. In any case, this should be the primary impact for the TAF period. Winds will increase from the northwest over the next several hours with intermittent light snow possible, causing visibility reductions to MVFR at times. Again, this also depends on how widespread cloud cover is for it to be either temporary or prevailing. This will continue through the day tomorrow, but clearing should occur tomorrow evening as a surface high approaches.

FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

ND...Extreme Cold Warning until noon CST Friday for NDZ006>008- 014>016-024-026>030-054. Extreme Cold Watch from Friday afternoon through Sunday morning for NDZ006>008-014>016-024-026>030-038-039-049- 052>054. Cold Weather Advisory until noon CST today for NDZ038-039. Extreme Cold Warning from noon today to noon CST Friday for NDZ038-039-049-052-053. MN...Extreme Cold Warning until noon CST Friday for MNZ001-002- 004>009-013>017-022-023. Extreme Cold Watch from Friday afternoon through Sunday morning for MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040. Cold Weather Advisory until noon CST today for MNZ003-024-027- 028. Extreme Cold Warning from noon today to noon CST Friday for MNZ003-024-027>032-040.