The region’s first blizzard may be entering the area later this evening.
Jennifer Ritterling is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Forks. She says a cold front is coming in from the north, bringing with it blowing snow that could produce reduced visibility and a 60 percent chance of blizzard conditions. She says despite knowing that it will arrive shortly, there is still a lot of unknowns with this system. She says uncertainty remains about the severity and where the strongest impacts will be. But what they do know is that blowing snow will severely impact travel tonight and tomorrow.
"This will significantly reduce visibility to a half a mile or less in many areas, and you'll see that drifting over the roads even in areas where it's not that bad. You'll also see snow showers that develop with minimal accumulations; so not expecting a lot of new snow, but what's already out there will be blowing around."
Ritterling says ahead of the cold front, a short duration of just above freezing temperatures could impact the ability of snow on the ground to blow around. She says travel in the most heavily affected areas stretching from the Highway 2 corridor down to just south of I-94 could become difficult to impossible.
Ritterling says to stay informed on road conditions if travel is absolutely necessary.