A WIND ADVISORY has been issued for the Beartooth Foothills and Livingston Area until Saturday morning.
A HIGH WIND WATCH will go into effect tomorrow until Sunday evening for portions of north-central Montana.
Yesterday, portions of northwest Montana snow totals ranged between 3-8" while everyone else stayed fairly dry.
Today a ridge over the west will allow for warm, breezy, and mostly dry weather conditions. The mountains west of the Continental Divide may have periods of scattered snow showers. Daytimes highs will climb 10-15 degrees above-average.
The first weekend of the New Year will be windy and relatively warm. A couple of weather systems will pass across the state. The first one will move through the area on Saturday. The system will bring strong winds and another round of snow to the mountains in western and southwest Montana. Southwest winds will feed daytime highs into the 40s and 50s.
Sunday, the next system will move through and will be even stronger. Heavy snow will fall in the mountains near and west of the Divide. Mountain passes such as; Marias, Lookout, Lolo, and Raynolds Pass roads will be covered with snow. Low visibility due to blowing and drifting snow is expected. The lower elevations of southwest Montana may experience an isolated rain shower. Chinook winds may gusty up to 75 mph, and drive daytime highs to the 40s and low to mid-50s. Travel could be difficult for high-profile vehicles, and strong winds may blow down trees and power lines; power outages are not out of the question for north-central Montana.
Monday, upper-level ridging will build into the region, which will result in a quiet weather day.
Tuesday, a few weather systems will try to work it's way over the ridge and that will bring periods of unsettled weather.
Happy New Year.
A.R.😊
