A WIND CHILL WARNING continues for most of central and northern Montana into Saturday morning.
A WINTER STORM WARNING expires Friday morning.
A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY expires Friday morning.
A record breaking arctic airmass has produced brutal cold that will only get worse into the start of the holiday weekend. Temperatures will continue dropping through Friday, Friday night into Saturday before a very slow warming begins. Record cold is likely, along with absolutely brutal wind chill values as cold as -60. In these conditions frost bite could form in minutes. This is about as severe as Montana weather gets. Hunker down, be careful, check on your neighbors, take care of your pets, and make sure to have the winter survival kit in your car if you must travel. Arctic air will continue to get colder and colder through Friday morning when wind chills could drop to -30 to -55. Friday will be extremely cold with highs between -20 and 0 for most of the state. Areas of light snow will diminish through the morning with some clouds clearing late in the day. The arctic high pressure will move in on Friday night and that's when temperatures will bottom out. Most of the state will have lows of -20 to -45 with wind chills as cold as -60. One change to the forecast is Saturday will be dry and sunny as the arctic high pressure pushes snow farther to the south. Even though Saturday will be sunny, high temperatures will range from 0 to -20. Saturday night will be extremely cold again with lows in the -20 to -40 range. Sunday will be partly cloudy with a few afternoon snow showers, and very cold with little to no wind. Highs will range from -15 to 5 above. A chinook wind should create blowing snow and warming conditions early next week but more snow will develop mid to late next week along with another reinforcing shot of colder air. This next arctic airmass will not be as severe, but temperatures will likely drop below 0 again.
Be safe.
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist
