GRAND FORKS — The Grand Forks region is in store for yet another blizzard this weekend.
The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning for parts of the northern Red River Valley, including Grand Forks, Crookston, Halstad, Langdon, Mayville, Pembina and Grafton, among other cities. The blizzard warning will go into effect at 3 a.m. Sunday and is currently set to expire at 6 p.m. Sunday.
Reduced visibilities continue to affect portions of the northern valley this afternoon and continue into the early evening hours. Expect visibilities to drop down to 1/4 of a mile at times in open country. #mnwx #ndwx pic.twitter.com/E0fHs11Fz8
— NWS Grand Forks (@NWSGrandForks) February 19, 2022
The ground blizzard — a familiar ordeal this winter with now seven blizzard warnings declared for Grand Forks since December — is expected to bring high winds with around 2 inches of snow near the Canadian border. The Grand Forks area can expect around an inch of snow, while areas to the south will likely see less than an inch, according to Dillon Vogt, a weather forecaster at WDAY.
“Wind gusts (on Sunday) will not be as fierce as they were on Friday, but we still could see some wind gusts in the 50 mile per hour range,” he said. “And then temperatures will be falling all throughout the day.”
This will be the second blizzard in three days for the area. Blizzard Finley brought high winds and light snowfall on Friday, making for hazardous driving conditions and road closures throughout the region. It closed Interstate 29 from the Canadian border to Fargo for most of the day, as well as Highway 2 from Devils Lake into Minnesota.
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Friday’s storm also pushed back the North Dakota East Region boys hockey tournament scheduled for this weekend at Purpur Arena in Grand Forks.
Sunday’s storm will likely make for slippery road conditions, according to the weather service. Widespread blowing snow will significantly reduce visibility and it will also bring wind chills as low as 30 degrees below zero, the weather service said.
