On the trail of winter precipitation. & wind on Sunday and Monday

OVERNIGHT: Saturday started the weekend mild and sunny, with highs topping 40 degrees in some areas. Combined with sunny skies, it was a good day to get outside. However, clouds will move in from the west overnight, leading to gray skies. However, our region will remain dry until rain and snow showers move into the north-east of Northern Ireland after 4am on Sunday morning. Therefore, there will be raindrops and snowflakes in some areas on Sunday morning, especially in eastern Northern ND. Winds will be light and temperatures will be around 20°C in parts of our region. So expect a cool morning.

FIRST ALARM SUNDAY – MONDAY: Sunday will be mild again with lows in the 20s and highs in the 30s. However, an active weather pattern will emerge on this day. We have declared a FIRST WEATHER WARNING DAY in the *Northern* Valley as temperatures will most likely remain near or below freezing, meaning there will be a mix of freezing winter and snow. Precipitation will begin as a wintry mix in the early to late morning hours, leading to trace amounts of ice accumulation in some areas. This mix will transition to snow during the afternoon and evening hours. Temperatures will be above freezing in the southern valley, so showers are expected. During the evening commute, rain begins to turn to snow as temperatures get closer to freezing. The rain and snow showers will move north overnight into Monday morning, giving our region a brief break from the rain and winter mix. Then we have the FIRST WEATHER WARNING DAY for all areas on Monday, as isolated snow showers will reach our region in the morning hours. Snow showers will continue until late afternoon to early evening Monday, leaving only a few thunderstorms. Meanwhile, strong northwest wind gusts above 30 mph are expected throughout the day on Monday. This will result in isolated blowing snow. Additionally, roads will be slick as temperatures fall below freezing again, so areas where there has been rain will see icing with light snow on top. Temperatures will be in the 20s.

There is still some uncertainty regarding snow depths as the ground could be warm (which impacts snow totals) and where exactly the freezing line will be on Sunday (which also impacts snow depths). However, most models are currently projecting at least 5 cm of snow in the northern half of our region between Sunday and Monday. Ice traces of up to 0.1 inches are possible in the central and southern portions of our region. So this means that slippery roads are likely in some places. Because of this, a winter weather advisory is in effect for most of our region through Sunday night.

TUESDAY – WEDNESDAY: A few flakes and light snow showers are possible again on Tuesday, but since the wind will be weaker than on Monday, not much snow is expected. Temperatures will also be cooler, with lows in the single digits to near 10°C and highs in the teens under partly sunny skies. Wednesday will be colder, but with lows near/below zero and highs in the single digits to low teens with mostly cloudy weather.

THURSDAY – FRIDAY: Temperatures will climb back into the upper teens to lows by the end of the work week and skies will be mostly cloudy. However, aside from a slight chance of thunderstorms on Thursday, the end of the work week will be dry and calm. Overall, a seasonally cool, dry end to the week is expected.

NEXT WEEKEND: Temperatures will remain around average in mid-December as afternoon highs will be in the mid 20s, although morning lows will be above average, in the teens. Skies will be mostly cloudy, but no precipitation is expected. Overall, a quiet weekend can be expected.

FARGO 7-DAY FORECAST:

Saturday: Partly sunny. Unusually mild. Low: 23 High: 39

Sunday: Windy with rain in the southern half of our region and wintry mix/snow in the northern half. Low: 26 High: 34

Monday: Snow showers. Stormy. Almost constant temperatures. Low: 24 High: 27

Tuesday: Mostly cloudy. Isolated snow showers possible. Low: 11 High: 18

Wednesday: Partly cloudy and colder. Low: 0 High: 10

Thursday: Mostly cloudy. Cold. Low: 0 High: 19

Friday: Mostly cloudy. Seasonal temperatures. Low: 17 High: 26

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