A lot of snow began falling across the Devils Lake Basin on Wednesday evening and could end up totaling 8 to 15 inches by tonight in an area from Cando, N.D., down to Valley City, N.D.
The Grand Forks area and much of the Red River Valley proper might end up with little or no new snow by late morning today. It may be a near-miss, too.
"Even within the warning and advisory areas, wide variations of snow amounts will occur," the National Weather Service said on its website. And the line between snow and no snow will be hard and fast, but it's not clear where it will fall yet.
Total snow accumulation across the area of Mayville, N.D., to Halstad, Minn., including Grand Forks, will be about 2 inches by late this afternoon, the weather service said late Wednesday night.
Southeastern North Dakota, from Valley City to Fargo and Wahpeton and Lisbon, will see 1 to 7 inches of snow. The Finley, N.D., area will see as much as 3 inches.
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Across the Devils Lake Basin, into the west side of the north end of the Valley, a winter storm warning remains in effect until 6 a.m. today and snow already started falling late Wednesday afternoon, with amounts expected to total 6 to 15 inches by later today.
The northwestern corner of Minnesota isn't supposed to get much snow at all.
A winter storm warning for heavy snow remains in effect until 6 a.m. for much of northeastern North Dakota west of the Red River Valley. Cavalier, Towner, Ramsey, Eddy, Nelson, Griggs and Benson counties are in the winter storm warning area. No travel is advised in the area, stretching from the Rolla and Langdon areas south past Carrington, N.D.
Steele and western Walsh counties are under a winter weather advisory, where somewhat lesser snow amounts are expected.
Snow fog made travel difficult west of Grand Forks, as blowing and drifting snow was made worse by passing vehicles bouncing it into the air.
Widespread blowing and drifting isn't expected as winds shift from around 10 mph out of the southeast to light northerly breezes overnight, the weather service said.
Farther west and southwest, in Rolette, Pierce, Wells and Foster counties, the winter storm warning expires at midnight tonight. Five to seven inches of new snow is expected in that area, though some locations might receive up to a foot.
The winter weather advisory also includes most of southeast North Dakota and parts of west-central Minnesota, including the cities of Fargo, Jamestown, Valley City and Lisbon, N.D., and Fergus Falls and Breckenridge, Minn. Two to five inches are possible in Fargo.
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There's also a winter storm warning well to the southeast of the Red River Valley, roughly along and south of Interstate 94 from Alexandria, Minn., all the way south to Faribault and St. Peter, Minn.
The weather service forecast for Grand Forks:
- Today: Partly sunny with a 20 percent chance of snow. Highs 15 to 20. Light winds becoming north around 10 mph in the afternoon. Partly cloudy with lows zero to 5 above at night. Northwest winds 10 to 15 mph.
- Friday: Partly sunny. Highs 10 to 15, and dropping to zero to 5 below at night.
- Saturday: Cloudy. Highs 5 to 10 and lows 5 to 10 below at night.
- Sunday: Mostly cloudy. Highs 5 to 10 and lows of zero to 5 below at night.
