Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Grand Forks, ND
Issued by NWS Grand Forks, ND
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015 FXUS63 KFGF 271734 AFDFGF Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Grand Forks ND 1134 AM CST Thu Nov 27 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - On and off Lake Effect snow southeast of Lake of the Woods the next few days. 1-3 inches of snow is possible for places from Baudette to Big Falls - Snow Friday night into Saturday across far southeast North Dakota with a 20 percent chance of more than 3 inches. - Below average temperatures continue into next week. && .UPDATE... Issued at 936 AM CST Thu Nov 27 2025 A deck of clouds is pushing down from Canada, otherwise its quiet here. There could be a few flurries/periods of light snow under this stratus deck, but observations show they are very few and far between. No major changes to the going forecast at this time. UPDATE Issued at 554 AM CST Thu Nov 27 2025 Big clearing area has surged south clearing out the solid stratocu deck. In its wake is patchy cloud cover moving south from Manitoba. So sky cover today variable from sunshine to cloudy. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 338 AM CST Thu Nov 27 2025 ...Synopsis... Basic 500 mb pattern into next week will see broad trough over central Canada and various short waves (mostly weak) drop southeast into the area with re-inforcing shots of cold air. Each shot of cold air is a bit colder than previous one. Provided we can clear out the clouds, will see low temps in many areas below zero....esp snow covered areas. Overall the pattern over the next 7 days doesnt show any big systems our way, but that could change as usual uncertainty exists in the the period day 5 and later as models often dont handle the strength of clippers well in the Day 5-7 period and beyond. ...Lake Effect Snow... For this Thanksgiving Day, quiet weather for nearly all areas. Will maintain narrow strip of snow chances due to lake effect snow into Baudette. Obs in that area have indicated vsbys varying from P6SM to 3/4sm tonight. NBM along with short term models HRRR/RRFS do indicate a band of accumulating snow from right over Baudette or just east then thru western Koochiching county. This was handled well by prev shift and maintained. Most likely amount is an inch or so....but with NW wind direction a narrow line of 2-3 inches possible from this current time period thru Thursday night near the LOW/Kooch county line. ...Friday night-Saturday snow... 00z and incoming 06z data is showing a slight south shift in snow with probs for 1, 2 and 3 inch snowfall a bit lower than it was showing Wednesday for the Friday night period. Main band of snow will quickly develop southeast Friday from SW ND into central and southeast SD into northwest Iowa and southwest MN and intensify Friday night in that area as 850-700 mb warm advection and frontogenetical forcing increases in a narrow zone in that area. Friday night into Saturday, mainly morning, will see much weaker forcing spread east on north side of southeast moving upper wave with light snow into the colder air mass into SE ND. NBM snow probs indicate for more than 1 inches, 25 pct Fargo to 60 pct Forman ND, north of Fargo-Fergus Falls tapers off to single digits. Probs for more than 2 inches fall off to 10 pct Fargo to 40 pct Forman ND and fall off even more for more than 3 inches (advisory range) with 20 pct Forman and 5 pct Fargo. So at this time this snow system should not lead to advisory headlines, unless a higher end, low percentage snowfall occurs. Will maintain some very low pops 15-16s for light snow this period as well per NBM up to Grand Forks, but may well see those pops continue to drop. Either way north of Fargo any snowfall to be non-impactful. Fortunately as well with sfc low well to our south in Kansas into Missouri Saturday we have a light pressure gradient and winds will not play a role in causing any impacts due to blowing/drifting of new or old snow in southeast ND or west central MN. && .AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z FRIDAY/... Issued at 1134 AM CST Thu Nov 27 2025 A cloud deck is pushing southward into the area from Canada. Ceilings upstream have generally remained VFR, with a few pockets of MVFR. Kept TAFs VFR except for KBJI, where MVFR ceilings will prevail through the evening hours. Winds will remain under 15 knots throughout the TAF period, northerly today, switching to the southeast very late in the TAF period at KDVL. There are hints in model guidance that fog could develop tonight, with the most at risk terminal being KFAR. Too much uncertainty at this time to add any mention in the TAF, but it will need to be monitored moving forward. && .FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ND...None. MN...None. && $$ UPDATE...Rafferty/Riddle DISCUSSION...Riddle AVIATION...Rafferty