


Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Grand Forks, ND
Issued by NWS Grand Forks, ND
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289 FXUS63 KFGF 311525 AFDFGF Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Grand Forks ND 1025 AM CDT Sun Aug 31 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Dense fog is expected through mid-morning. && .UPDATE... Issued at 1019 AM CDT Sun Aug 31 2025 Dense fog continues in portions of the Sheyenne River Valley (namely within Barnes and Griggs counties) into the Red River Valley. Fog will continue to gradually diminish around the area, dissipating by noon. UPDATE Issued at 656 AM CDT Sun Aug 31 2025 While not all spots in the Dense Fog Advisory are socked in, especially on the edges of the deck, many are very foggy. Will keep an eye on the finger of stratus seen on satellite reaching towards Grand Forks and Thief River Falls, but for now will keep the headline as it is. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 352 AM CDT Sun Aug 31 2025 ...Synopsis... Very weak upper and surface flow continues into this morning with blocking ridge still over northern MN into ONT and weak upper circulations to our west and south. One of the weak circulations will come down out of Canada into eastern ND on Monday, bringing some shower and thunderstorm activity. While there are decent probabilities for good instability, shear is still very weak and not expecting severe impacts. Upper flow will pick up on Tuesday as a more robust trough digs down out of Canada. Impacts will depend greatly on the timing of the cold front that this trough brings, and several solutions have it past us by peak heating while a few others show the potential for some stronger elevated cells. Probability of CAPE values over 1000 J/kg are around 40 percent at best, and shear doesn`t get too impressive until well after the front passes. Will continue to hold off on any messaging for storms on Tuesday but will keep an eye on things. Of greater certainty is cooler temperatures behind the front, knocking values down below seasonal averages. Probabilities of lows less than 32 degrees are still around 20 percent in the boggy areas of MN, but chances for less than 36 degrees east of the Red are around 60 percent, so patchy frost is not out of the question. A bit too soon to message frost headlines as much will depend on cloud cover, but the cool down from highs in the 80s will be noticeable. ...Fog this morning... Winds are mostly light but have enough southerly to southeasterly fetch to bring plenty of moisture north into our CWA. Fog has already developed from the SD border up towards Devils Lake. While so far web cams are still rather patchy, there is more consistency in the high-res ensembles and HREF probabilities are up to 70 percent for less than a half mile visibility. This is mostly in southeastern to east central ND, which fits current observation and satellite trends so far. For now have an advisory southwest of a Devils Lake to Hillsboro to Fergus Falls line, but may need to expand depending on how far east the more dense fog gets in the next few hours. && .AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z MONDAY/... Issued at 656 AM CDT Sun Aug 31 2025 LIFR conditions at KFAR and KDVL, although the latter has had some improvement in the last hour or so. Should see some improvement to the fog in the next few hours at the southern and western airports, while KGFK and the MN side could see some drops down to MVFR visibility down for an hour or so. All sites should become VFR by 15 or 16Z, with light southeasterly winds below 10 kts. && .FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ND...Dense Fog Advisory until noon CDT today for NDZ028>030-038-039. MN...Dense Fog Advisory until noon CDT today for MNZ003. && $$ UPDATE...CJ/JR DISCUSSION...JR AVIATION...JR