A WIND CHILL ADVISORY is in effect for far northeast Montana into Saturday morning.
It's the end of winter and the beginning of spring is just around the corner. Temperatures will slowly increase for most of the state through the final weekend of winter with abundant sunshine. However, the beginning of spring will get colder with a good chance of snow midweek. One issue tonight and the next several nights will be areas of freezing fog along the river valleys. Friday is St. Patrick's Day and any storminess will disappear as high pressure moves in. Skies will be mostly sunny with light wind and highs in the 20s and 30s. Saturday will almost be a carbon copy with sunshine, light wind and chilly temperatures in the 20s and 30s for central and eastern Montana, but western areas from Missoula to Helena to Great Falls will warm into the 40s. Sunday will be mostly sunny to partly cloudy with a few mountain snow showers and highs in the 30s and 40s. Monday is the first official day of spring and the weather will be mostly cloudy with a few mountain snow showers, high will be close to average in the 40s. The first snowstorm of spring likely will hit on Tuesday and Wednesday with another round of widespread snow and below average temperatures for the state. Most of the rest of March appears colder than normal with more snow. So there are no imminent major warmups that would result in significant melting of snow causing flooding. The mountains will continue to add to the snowpack which is good for rivers and potential wildfires heading into the summer months.
Have a great day.
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist