175
FXUS63 KFGF 092007
AFDFGF

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Grand Forks ND
307 PM CDT Wed Jul 9 2025

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Severe storms are possible, risk level 1 out of 5, in eastern
  North Dakota tonight, with a small area of 2 out of 5 risk in
  the Sheyenne Basin.

- Severe storms risk level 1 out of 5 will develop Thursday
  afternoon and night.

- Heat risk rises to the moderate category Thursday afternoon,
  but at this point it looks like heat index values will stay
  below 100 degrees.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
Issued at 307 PM CDT Wed Jul 9 2025

...Synopsis...

Water vapor loop shows shortwave ridging over the Eastern Plains
with a few weak embedded vorts moving through. As expected, best
moisture and instability are just to our west so far, but no
convection so far except way south in western SD. A stronger
shortwave will be moving in for Thursday afternoon and evening
and pushing a cold front into the forecast area, but much will
depend on how tonight plays out. The cold front will push the
rest of the way through the forecast area on Friday as upper
troughing digs down into the Northern Plains. A bit of a break
with northwesterly flow on Saturday but then it switches back to
near zonal and then southwesterly late Sunday and into Monday.
Another quick moving trough through the Northern Plains on
Tuesday and moving east Wednesday with cooler temps and
additional thunderstorm chances.

...Severe chances tonight...

While plenty of instability available in central ND with temps
in the low 90s and dew points in the 70s, it has remained capped
so far. Several of the CAMs have the current convection in
western SD spreading northeastward into south central ND, which
fits current satellite and radar trends. Still not a lot of
upper support for development except some very weak vorts that
are moving through. However, instability is very strong at over
4000 J/kg and there is at least some deep layer bulk shear
around 30 kts in southeastern ND. Probabilities for strong
updraft helicities get above 50 percent in south central ND
later this evening, and are still around 30 to 40 percent as the
convection starts moving into our far southwestern counties.
Can`t rule out some isolated large hail and perhaps some
scattered damaging winds. Convection should linger after
midnight as the moisture plume moves east, but what little shear
there was goes downhill and probabilities of strong updraft
helicities drop to around 10 percent.

...Severe potential for Thursday...

Much will depend on how the convection tonight plays out and if
there are any MCVs or lingering outflow boundaries to help focus
redevelopment. There is more upper support with a surface
boundary moving through, however, much of the shear is behind
the cold front and not with the instability plume that will be
over the southern Red River Valley. SPC has lowered the risk
down to marginal due to the large uncertainty. Updraft helicity
probabilities are not very impressive, but some of the machine
learning are still highlighting our CWA for severe potential.

...Heat risk on Thursday...

The hot temperatures and moist dew points over central ND
currently are expected to shift east and be over our CWA
tomorrow. Wet bulb globe temps get into the low 80s, and heat
risk is up to moderate with a few spots of high. However, there
is still some question of if we will get to the heat index
values above 100, especially if there is lingering cloud cover
from morning convection. Will hold off on any heat headlines for
now, but continue to message hot and sticky conditions.

&&

.AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z THURSDAY/...
Issued at 1235 PM CDT Wed Jul 9 2025

VFR conditions for all TAF sites with some cumulus at KBJI and
high clouds further west. A few of the models have some MVFR
stratus getting into the Red River Valley and MN airports later
tonight into tomorrow morning, but may be a bit overdone.
Included a MVFR mention at KBJI but kept it out of the other TAF
sites. Winds that are gusting above 20 kts at some locations
this afternoon will drop into the 10 to 15 kt range this
evening, mostly remaining out of the southeast although KDVL
could see some southwesterly winds toward the end of the period.

&&

.FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
ND...None.
MN...None.

&&

$$

DISCUSSION...JR
AVIATION...JR