A HIGH WIND WARNING continues for the Rocky Mountain Front and the East Glacier area through the weekend into Monday morning.
It's getting close to Halloween but this year you won't have to put winter coats and snowpants on under the kids' costumes. A pattern of fairly mild yet windy weather will continue through Halloween. There is more opportunity for special sunrises and sunsets over the next several days with the weather pattern that will not change much. While that's nice, the wind will not be across the plains, mountains and Continental Divide. A chinook wind and chinook arch cloud formation are likely to persist. A chinook wind is downsloping wind from the Continental Divide that warms as it descends. This pattern typically creates a chinook arch cloud that forms above or just east of the Continental Divide. These cloud formations (mountain wave clouds) can create some beautiful sunsets. In this setup, there usually is a very strong wind across the plains and near the east side of the Divide as well. Areas that are not windy in this setup usually include the valleys of western Montana like Helena, Bozeman, Missoula and Kalispell. This weekend does not look bad if you can tolerate the wind. For both Saturday and Sunday, skies will be partly to mostly cloudy but it will be dry. Highs will be in the 50s to around 60. Average wind speeds during the day will range from between 20-40mph. There will be gusts up over 60mph especially along the Rocky Mountain Front. Halloween will be quite mild with highs in the 50s and 60s, and temperatures will dip into the 40s and 50s around Trick o' Treat time. What will be bad is the wind and it should affect most of the state including the western valleys. Make sure some of those little trick or treaters do not get blown away! Tuesday is the beginning of November and the beginning of a new storm. A cold front will move through the state with some rain changing to snow. Snow will fall and accumulate across a lot of the state through Tuesday night and Wednesday. There is potential for several inches accumulating in the lower elevations. The storm will move out by Thursday morning with some of the coldest air of the season so far left in its wake.
Have a great weekend.
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist
