075
FXUS63 KBIS 270222
AFDBIS

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Bismarck ND
922 PM CDT Sun Jul 26 2026

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Very hot temperatures may continue into Monday southwest,
  with a slight drop in temperatures elsewhere. The rest of the
  week remains hot with highs mostly in the 90s, but with some
  readings above 100 degrees possible in southwest North Dakota.

- Precipitation chances are low until midweek, when there is a
  30 to 60 percent chance for showers and thunderstorms across
  the forecast area.

&&

.UPDATE...
Issued at 922 PM CDT Sun Jul 26 2026

A weak cold frontal boundary has passed through all but the far
southern James River Valley of ND, with the main impacts being a
wind shift to the northwest and much drier air in its wake.
However, temperatures themselves are only marginally cooler
behind than ahead of the front. Nevertheless, with drier air in
place, heat indices have rapidly dropped in most locations.
Therefore, the Heat Advisory has been allowed to expire on time.

UPDATE
Issued at 642 PM CDT Sun Jul 26 2026

Smoke propagation continues further southeast than models have
predicted, therefore went ahead and expanded patchy smoke
mentions across the remainder of the forecast area. Based on
upstream observations, smoke is likely to stick around most of
the area through at least Monday morning. Otherwise, dry and
hot conditions continue across the state early this evening.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
Issued at 328 PM CDT Sun Jul 26 2026

Very hot and smoky weather continues. Public report from
Williston indicated smoky conditions with the smell of smoke in
the air. The latest visibility observation from Williston has
dropped to 4SM. Latest satellite imagery shows smoke rolling in
from Montana. There is a rather sharp cutoff just north of the
International border, with much less smoke in Canada. Upper
level winds are keeping most of the smoke confined to the
Continental U.S and there is a definite thickening of the smoke
along the International Border. It remains smoky as you go
south, but smoke concentration is less. Have expanded the smoke
to include much of western and central ND.

The Heat Advisory remains in effect through 9 PM CDT this
evening. There were considerations of expanding this through
tomorrow in the southwest but in the end we decided to hold off
on this. Forecast lows tonight are generally in the low to mid
60s, while last night lows were in the upper 60s to lower 70s.
Although not cool by any stretch of the imagination, the lower
temperatures will limit the overnight heat impacts. There are
some differences in forecast highs tomorrow, and in the end,
felt there was too much uncertainty to continue the Advisory. We
still may need to issue something overnight for the far
southwest and/or south central, but will hold off for now.
Forecast highs Monday are generally in the 90s. A few 80s may be
found in the far north, and a few readings of 100 to 103 are
possible in the southwest and south central, generally along
and south of the I-94 corridor.

The NBM has been carrying a low chance (around 20 percent)
probability for thunderstorms tomorrow, generally in the
southwest and south central. Highs are around 100 degrees and
there will likely be some capping issues, but there could be
some moderate instability during the max heating of the day
within an area where shortwave energy is propagating through the
upper level ridge. Better probabilities remain south of the
forecast area, but given the heat, and for consistency will
maintain these pops.

The remainder of the workweek looks to be not quite as hot as
this weekend, but we still remain 10 to 15 degrees above normal
(normal is in the lower 80s) in most areas. With the hot
temperatures and impulses propagating through the mean upper
ridge, generally low pops (20 to 30%) are anticipated through
the week. A more vigorous wave does move through the mean flow
in the Wednesday night through Thursday timeframe. Currently the
NBM is depicting a broadbrush area of 30 to 60 percent pops. We
will see if these pops remain that high, but the large
uncertainty in timing and placement does necessitate the
broadbrush nature of the pops at this time.

&&

.AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z TUESDAY/...
Issued at 642 PM CDT Sun Jul 26 2026

Smoke has expanded across most of western through central North
Dakota, including the James River Valley. For the most part,
visibility is VFR. However, occasional MVFR visibility has also
been observed. Pockets of IFR visibility are possible tonight,
especially in western North Dakota. Based on upstream
observations, smoke is likely to stick around through at least
Monday morning and possibly the afternoon for parts of the state.
Of note, smoke is resulting in a lot of ASOS/AWOS observations
reporting low VFR ceilings of around 4 kft, though skies are
otherwise clear besides a few clouds the northwest and possibly
north central. That said, FEW to SCT VFR cloud cover will enter
western North Dakota within the next couple hours and push
eastward across the state overnight.

&&

.BIS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
None.

&&

$$

UPDATE...Telken
DISCUSSION...TWH
AVIATION...Telken