A WINTER STORM WARNING has been issued for the higher terrain of western and central Montana from Wednesday evening into Thursday morning.
A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY has been issued from the Helena North Hill through Wolf Creek Canyon from Wednesday evening into Thursday morning.
A FLOOD WATCH has been issued for the Little Belt and Highwood Mountains from Wednesday afternoon to Friday morning.
A strong storm will deliver rain and thunderstorms with lowering snow levels through Wednesday into Thursday. Travel Thursday morning could be very difficult especially in the higher terrain. The good news is this storm is before Memorial Day Weekend. The bad news is another storm will hit for the first half of the holiday weekend. Wednesday will be mostly cloudy with showers and thunderstorms increasing through the day. Highs will be in the 50s and 60s, warmer out east. Rain will increase with snow levels decreasing Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Snow could mix in down below 5000' to possibly around the Helena Downtown and even near the Great Falls Airport up on the hill. Thursday will start off wet with heavy mountain snow. Mountain passes will be impacted by several inches of snow and travel should have very difficult travel. Even some of the lower elevations around the Helena Valley will have heavy wet snow and sloppy conditions. Snow levels will slowly rise through Thursday as the storm slowly moves away. After a wet morning, rain will taper off through Thursday afternoon and evening. Highs will be in the 40s and 50s, with a few 60s up on the Hi-Line where there will be more sunshine. Some flooding in possible in the Little Belt and Highwood Mountains with all of the rain, heavy snow, and then melting of that snow. Friday will not be that bad of a day with partly cloudy skies and a few isolated showers and thunderstorms. Highs will be in the 50s and 60s. Travelers for Memorial Day Weekend will not have much if any issues heading to their destination. A new storm will move in for Saturday with showers, thunderstorms and higher elevation snow. Hgihs will be in the 50s and 60s. Saturday will be a stormy night with rain in the lower elevations and snow in the mountains. Sunday will start out stormy with rain and mountain snow that will gradually taper off later in the day with partly cloudy skies by the afternoon. Temperatures will be a bit warmer in the 50s and 60s, the wind will be gusty out of the northwest. The good news is that the entire weekend will not be a washout. From Sunday afternoon through Memorial Day on Monday looks lovely with mostly sunny skies and warmer highs in the 60s and 70s.
Have a great day,
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist
