Earlier in the week we mentioned the possibility of 3 more deployments before the end of the field project. That forecast was based the expected snow and wind event on Monday into early Tuesday (Deployment #4), the threat of light snow today and tonight, and the threat of snow this weekend. Late this morning, however, we're seeing sunny skies across eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota with the light snow located farther west, in central and western North Dakota. This band of snow is expected to slide southeast into northern South Dakota and eventually into southwestern Minnesota and western Iowa. So, for today, there are no operations planned since the snow is too far west (and eventually south).
As of this morning, the forecast for Thursday is dry, as a weak ridge of high pressure continues to keep conditions relatively pleasant. The best option for our 5th, and likely last, deployment arrives on Friday as an upper-level disturbance moves through the Dakotas and into Minnesota during the day. Forecast models have been pretty persistent for the last week to ten days suggesting the threat of snow during the Friday-Sunday period, and currently it appears that the snow event will occur on Friday.
