Marine Weather and Tide Forecast for Bena, MN

DISCUSSION
Issued at 1221 PM CST Thu Mar 5 2026

Strong easterly flow continues to pile up the marine layer against the North Shore today. This is keeping a stubborn area of dense fog and freezing drizzle locked in place. We expect this freezing drizzle to continue producing ice accumulations up to one tenth of an inch on untreated surfaces. A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect until midnight, though we may need to extend this further for the North Shore if the onshore flow deems to be persistent. While fog has improved, it looks likely to return along the immediate lakeshore tonight.

For Friday, we are tracking a Colorado Low moving into the Great Lakes. The latest trends show this system might be slightly less organized than previous model runs suggested. The Euro EFIs for this storm have steadily decreased for QPF and no longer even register even somewhat unusual in our forecast area.
We still have large spreads in the expected precipitation amounts, but the main story is that warmer temperatures will continue to eat into our snowfall totals and it will be rainy.
This system will start off as rain for most of the Northland, and we could even hear a few rumbles of thunder by Friday afternoon especially in the evening across NW Wisconsin. PWAT values are quite impressive for this time of year with a plume over 1" waddling into the area.

As colder air wraps behind the departing low Friday night into Saturday, the rain will transition to a wintry mix and eventually light snow. Because of the warmer thermal profiles, snow accumulations will be minor, generally remaining under two inches for the area. This system will also bring a lot of moisture, so any heavy rain falling on our existing frozen ground and snowpack could lead to localized runoff and ponding issues. Expect a rapid warmup to follow for the latter half of the weekend, melting off any fresh snow. Eventually some cold air moves back in for next week.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z SATURDAY/
Issued at 551 PM CST Thu Mar 5 2026

Dense freezing fog is expected at DLH tonight with occasional freezing drizzle. The fog is expected to spread northwest and affect HIB late this evening. This is just for fog associated with the onshore flow from Lake Superior. However, fog is expected to eventually develop elsewhere overnight and overspread the region out ahead of showers that are expected after around 12z. Expect MVFR visibilities and IFR ceilings.
There may be some slight visibility improvements Friday as rain showers help to erode a bit of the fog, but either way, IFR ceilings are expected to persist through the period. Winds shift to southeasterly and some brief breezy conditions are possible at times Friday, mainly at HYR. A cold front Friday afternoon will cause a wind shift to northwesterly at INL.

MARINE /FOR NEARSHORE WATERS OF WESTERN LAKE SUPERIOR/
Issued at 1221 PM CST Thu Mar 5 2026

Hazardous conditions continue on western Lake Superior. A Small Craft Advisory remain in effect. Strong easterly flow will persist, generating northeast winds 10 to 20 knots with gusts up to 25 knots and waves 2 to 5 feet through tonight. We did see some gusts to 40 kts this morning at KDYT, but that anemometer may have froze up and the pressure gradient relaxed, so did not issue a gale warning. Fog may eventually be a problem tonight.
Winds will shift and eventually become very strong out of the southwest by Saturday evening, with gale force gusts looking increasingly likely for the weekend.

For the open water discussion, refer to the NWS Marquette Area Forecast Discussion at weather.gov/mqt.

DLH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES
MN...Dense Fog Advisory until noon CST Friday for MNZ020-021-037.
Winter Weather Advisory until midnight CST tonight for MNZ011- 012-019>021-037.
WI...Dense Fog Advisory until noon CST Friday for WIZ001-002.
Winter Weather Advisory until midnight CST tonight for WIZ001- 002.
MARINE...Small Craft Advisory until 3 AM CST Friday for LSZ141>146-148- 150.
Dense Fog Advisory until noon CST Friday for LSZ142.
Winter Weather Advisory until midnight CST tonight for LSZ142.