Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Grand Forks, ND
Issued by NWS Grand Forks, ND
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433 FXUS63 KFGF 201928 AFDFGF Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Grand Forks ND 128 PM CST Thu Nov 20 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Above average temperatures continue through the weekend with slightly below average temperatures next Wednesday and beyond. - A more active pattern by early next week in the northern plains brings increasing snow chances. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 128 PM CST Thu Nov 20 2025 ...Synopsis... A somewhat complex upper air pattern will continue to bring mainly above average temperatures and dry weather to the region through the weekend with low amplitude ridging in the central plains keeping highs in the upper 30s to mid 40s in the coming days. While also being positioned on the eastern periphery on this ridging we find ourselves in gentle NW flow with weak shortwaves traversing the flow and bringing minor precip chances, one wave looks clipper esque on Saturday but looks to miss us just to the north. Beyond this a baroclinic zone (fancy word for temperature gradient) will become more pronounce ahead of an early week system that could bring wintry impacts to the region. Behind this wave persistent NW flow aloft will tap into much colder canadian air bring temps below average with highs in the 20s for the remainder of next week. - Early week system The main challenge of the forecast will be a wave interaction across the northern plains early next week. Scenarios while certainly still showing their differences offer some guidance on the likely evolution. A northern wave will meander east out of the southern canadian rockies early next week with the cutoff low over the 4 corners area ejecting northeast towards the great lakes. A faster ejecting cutoff low looks to allowing western ridging to become less amplified and take the northern low on a more southerly track while a slower cutoff low would lead to a slightly more northerly track. These waves are expected to eventually merge somewhere in southern Ontario/Great Lakes vicinity with this deepening wave taking on a negative tilt as it moves east around the southern Hudson Bay and into the northeastern US. Synoptically speaking the faster ejecting low would lead to more impacts in our region as the respectively more southerly tracking northern shortwave would have more interaction with the southern cutoff low with higher QPF resulting across the forecast area. With cold air (cold enough to support snow processes) on the backside of this system there is certainly the possibility for accumulating snow but overall synoptic predictability remains low where snow could fall or how much. && .AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z FRIDAY/... Issued at 1133 AM CST Thu Nov 20 2025 Skies continues to slowly clear this morning with IFR ceilings in BJI and MVFR in FAR and TVF. FAR and TVF clearing out in the next few hours with BJI potentially becoming scattered by 4-5pm. Other than timing out the thinning and lifting clouds for IFR/MVFR/VFR conditions winds will be turning slowly NW to W to SW overnight with calm winds in the late overnight into tomorrow morning. Minimal aviation concerns after 6pm through the end of the TAF period. && .FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ND...None. MN...None. && $$ DISCUSSION...TT AVIATION...TT