A WINTER STORM WATCH has been issued for the higher terrain of central Montana from Thursday night into Saturday morning.
Yes a WINTER STORM WATCH has been issued but that's still a few days away. Showers and isolated thunderstorms pushing through the state on Tuesday evening will be moving out through Wednesday morning. Wednesday will be a cooler day with a few isolated showers, thunderstorms and mountain snow across southern Montana. A few showers may come close to Helena, but most of Helena, Great Falls and points north will just be partly to mostly cloudy. Highs will dip just below normal again, down into the 50s. Thursday another larger storm will move into western Montana later in the day. Rain showers and a few thunderstorms are likely through the evening into the night. This is the storm system that has warranted the WINTER STORM WATCH for elevations of 5000' and above. Snow levels will initially be fairly high above 6000', but lower through the night to the valley floors and some plains by Friday morning. Friday will be a wet and white day for many areas across the state. Some locations like Helena and Great Falls could start out with wet snow in the morning before snow levels rise in the afternoon. The mountains will continue to get snow with sloppy travel over the mountain passes. Highs will be chilly in the 30s and 40s. 6" to as much as 18" of snow will accumulate in the mountains. This weekend will be mostly cloudy with some rain showers in the lower elevations and snow showers in the mountains. Saturday will have a bit more sunshine and fewer showers, but Sunday looks rather soggy with snow levels at about 5000' once again. On the first Monday of May, a new storm will move in with rain and mountain snow. Once again, snow levels could lower down to the valley floors and plains by Monday night into Tuesday. However, later in the week there may be a big rise in temperatures with highs in the 70s and 80s.
Have a great day.
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist
