A winter weather system will bring heavy snow to the southern Red River Valley this weekend but should bypass Grand Forks.
The snowfall will likely miss Grand Forks and the surrounding area, possibly bringing light snow to the Fargo area with the major snowfall reaching South Dakota, west central Minnesota and the Twin Cities area.
"There's pretty good confidence that the heavy stuff is going to stay to our south," said Nick Carletta, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Forks.
"The question for us here in Grand Forks is will we see no snow or light snow."
Temperatures in Grand Forks will be in the mid-30s to the upper teens throughout the weekend. On Sunday, the area will see a warming trend in the mid-40s to low 20s, which will continue into next week. There is potential for snowfall next Wednesday, but Carletta said high temperatures and the strength of the sun will mean the snow melts quickly.
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Carletta pointed to the Midwest Regional Climate Center Winter Severity Index when asked to compare this year's winter to those in the past. The index is based on temperature and snowfall, and Grand Forks was rated a "severe" winter based on these criteria. Carletta said this winter falls between the 60th and 80th percentile.
"We're definitely in the above-average severity for this winter," he said.
As far as the month of April goes, it is shaping up to be an unusual one. Carletta said April 2013 brought conditions similar to this year's, with cold temperatures for the first few weeks of the month and warmer conditions in the month's final days.
"That month (April 2013) had a big warm-up at the end of the end, so hopefully we'll have a big warm-up this month as well," he said.
