A WIND CHILL ADVISORY has been issued for parts of the Hi-Line from Saturday through Thursday for wind chills as cold as -45.
It's a busy time of year with Christmas right around the corner and Mother Nature will be quite busy too. November and most of December thus far have been really cold, but even colder air arrives this weekend and will have Montana in its icy grip through most of next week leading up to Christmas. The weather Saturday will have increasing clouds and some light snow moving into northern Montana in the morning and heading south later in the day along a cold front. This front will push south through Montana on Saturday night along with light snow and a big drop in temperatures. After highs on Saturday reach the 10s and 20s, Sunday's highs will be in the -0s and 0s. Areas of light snow or light flurries will move through the state. Monday will be mostly cloudy with some light snow or flurries and continued very cold. Highs will be in the -0s and 0s, lows will be in the -10s and 0s. As if it were not cold enough, an arctic front will push through later Tuesday into Wednesday. Snow will be widespread but the air following this front could be some of the coldest in years. Winter officially begins on Wednesday, and highs that day could be in the -10 to -20 range with lows between -20 and -40! More snow is likely for Thursday into Friday as Pacific moisture collides with the arctic air. A situtation could develop where arctic air hangs tough east of the Continental Divide with warmer air just to the west of the Divide. Either way, travel late next week could be difficult before Christmas.
Stay warm,
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist
