A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY has been issued for north-central Montana for Saturday night into Sunday.
Arctic air is moving out, being replaced by warmer Pacific air but this comes at a cost with the threat of freezing drizzle and freezing rain making for very slippery conditions at times this weekend. Call it a Mini January Thaw because temperatures will warm above the freezing point for most before the weekend is over. Under mostly cloudy skies on Saturday, highs will top out in the 30s to around 40. There may be a few isolate snow showers over the mountains and spotty freezing drizzle in the lower elevations. The wind will gust up to around 20mph across the plains. A wave of moisture will move through Saturday night into Sunday morning with a mix of snow and freezing drizzle. A light coating of ice could make for really slippery travel early on Sunday. Sunday will be mostly cloudy and there will be spotty snow and freezing rain especially up on the Hi-Line through the afternoon. Temperatures will be tricky with some spots staying in the 20s, other areas depending on elevation and proximity to the mountains will warm into the 30s and 40s. More tolerable temperatures in the 20s, 30s and 40s will be common for most of next week. Besides the western mountains seeing some spotty snow showers, the trend will be for a drier period through the week and the final weekend of January.
Have a great weekend,
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist