532
FXUS63 KFGF 232037
AFDFGF

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Grand Forks ND
337 PM CDT Thu May 23 2024

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Isolated to scattered severe thunderstorms are expected today
  between 4 pm and 10 pm south of Highway 2. Potential hazards
  include hail up to two inches and 70 mph winds, with a tornado
  possible.

- Heavy rain tonight into Friday over portions of the Red River
  basin may bring additional rises on area rivers.

- Patchy frost could form Saturday early morning in the Devils
  Lake basin, although will depend on cloud cover and wind.


&&

.DISCUSSION...
Issued at 337 PM CDT Thu May 23 2024

Main upper low is still coming out from the northern Rockies
into the western Dakotas. Some convection firing in northeastern
SD on the leading edge of the 850mb jet and in uncapped 2000
J/kg SB CAPE has mostly been unorganized and not severe.
However, the CAMs still break out some more impressive
convective cells later on this afternoon and evening.
While the main wind shift with the warm front is still mostly down
in SD, there is some 55 dew points pooling further north near
the I-94 corridor where winds are from the east. That could make
some cells moving in that area interesting and could bring some
rotation in addition to the main hazards of hail up to two
inches and winds to 70 mph. Will continue to monitor how the
mesoscale features develop in the next few hours, but it still
seems that we will see some good chances for isolated to
scattered severe storms during the 21 to 03Z time frame.

As the instability decreases tonight, the main upper low will
still be coming out into the Northern Plains and the surface low
lifting into the Red River Valley. This time the main
deformation band sets up more over our northern counties, with
the Devils Lake Basin and northern Red River Valley seeing the
best probabilities of over an inch of rain. There is even some
50 to 60 percent probability of over 2 inches of rain by Friday
evening. The precipitation will continue to wrap around the low
pressure system as it lifts off into Canada Friday night. Some
colder temperatures start to come down the backside of the
system, with some of the models showing a few flakes mixing in
the far northwestern counties as early as Friday morning. No
accumulations or impacts expected. More cold air coming down as
the system pulls east Friday night, although there is some signs
of a reinforcing shortwave bringing some clouds that could
prevent frost formation.

The active pattern continues into the holiday weekend as flow
becomes southwesterly, although the bulk of the energy on Sunday
seems like it will be to our south. Northern branch shortwave
coming through Monday will dig into the Great Lakes Tuesday,
allowing ridging to build in and a warming trend for
Wednesday/Thursday.

&&

.AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z FRIDAY/...
Issued at 704 AM CDT Thu May 23 2024

Band of low clouds (IFR and LIFR) extend from Grand Rapids and
Duluth MN west thru Bemidji and are moving southwest. The clouds
have cleared out of Waskish but have moved into Thief River
Falls and Fosston at 12z. This band of low level cloud cover
should break up thru mid morning or at the very least move out
of Bemidji and Thief River TAF sites but impact Park Rapids.
Outside of this zone...VFR conditions with mid clouds and
showers northeast/east central ND and moving into far NW MN. Mid
clouds likely all day north of I-94 in ND while some clearing
works into far SE ND midday/early aftn. Shower and t-storm
development will occur in southern ND late aftn/eve and spread
north/east as upper low moves thru into Friday. Conditions like
to go widespread IFR either in ceilings or vsbys in
rain/t-storms tonight across the area. East winds increasing to
15-20 kts gusts over 25 kts at times into tonight.

&&

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

&&

$$

DISCUSSION...JR
AVIATION...JR