Quite the difference in atmospheric conditions waking up on your Thursday than we had 24 hours ago. Wednesday morning we still saw lingering cloud cover, remnants of roaring wind, and some rain/snow mix coming down. Today will be mostly all dry across Montana, much more sun will shine, and temperatures will rise to the 60s in Helena and Great Falls. The dry skies, warm-up, and increased sunshine is due to a ridge of high pressure that will be the dominant feature over the Northern Rockies today through early Friday. Warm and dry conditions will stick around for the next 24 to 36 hours. Today`s maximum temperature should be around 10 degrees above normal for this time of year and Friday`s being 15 degrees above normal. A cold front will push into northwest Montana Friday afternoon and finish moving across the region by Friday evening. This front will cause gusty westerly and widespread precipitation. The mountain passes, especially along the Montana/Idaho border, should anticipate a couple of inches of new snow. Temperatures this weekend will be significantly colder then Friday, as readings for most valley locations will be in the 40s. Scattered snow showers will also linger across the region on Saturday into Sunday. The models continue to trend towards a significant low pressure system moving over the Northern Rockies Monday into Tuesday. This disturbance will move in even colder air from the northeast. Also the potential track of the system would bring a decent amount of snowfall to portions of north central Idaho into southwest Montana. As always: A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition!
Be nice to each other.
- Trey Tonnessen -
