Alberta Clipper Likely To Impact Much Of North Dakota Thurs/Fri

An Alberta clipper system is likely to impact much of North Dakota Thursday afternoon through Friday morning.

A special weather statement from the National Weather Service in Bismarck says a low-pressure system coming down from Canada will likely bring impactful weather to southcentral North Dakota and much of the rest of the state.

Snow may begin falling in northcentral North Dakota as early as Thursday afternoon.  The snow is expected to intensify into the evening, with heavier bands of snow spreading south and east as we head through the evening and into Friday morning.  At this time it looks like lighter precipitation is expected for southcentral North Dakota including the cities of Bismarck Mandan.  We could see an inch or more of snow with an early round of freezing rain or a wintry mix beginning Thursday evening before it turns to all snow by Friday morning.

In addition, strong northwest winds are expected to develop Friday morning and persist through the afternoon with wind gusts over 30 miles per hour, which could cause blowing snow, especially in southwest North Dakota.

At this time, it looks like the greatest impact area will be along and east of Highway 83 where several inches of snow could fall.  However, there is still a lot of uncertainty with this system and the snow line could shift.

Winter Storm Watches have already been posted for northeast South Dakota and west-central Minnesota for late Thursday night and Friday morning for this system.