Where's Winter? Arctic Air is Absent.

Climatologically this is coldest time of year in Montana and for the northern hemisphere. In spite of this much of Montana, the West, and Canada are in the midst of a January thaw. While there will be some minor storm systems that bring a little snow mainly to the mountains here and there, significant snow is looking unlikely anytime soon in the lower elevations. Throughout the end of January, temperatures will remain mild and there will be hardly any snow outside of the mountains. While this pattern is very similar to what happened last January, it does not appear Montana will have a repeat of last February when record cold gripped the entire state for the entire month.
A weak system will push through Montana Tueday night into Wednesday morning with the mountain passes picking up a coating up to a few inches but that's it. Wednesday will be partly cloudy and blustery with highs in the 30s and 40s. There will be a few mountain snow showers. Thursday another weak system will push into western Montana with a mix of rain, snow and ice in the lower elevations. Snow will accumulate a few inches in the mountains. Much of the state east of the Continental Divide will be mostly cloudy, mild and breezy. Friday will almost be a carbon copy with snow in the mountains west of the Divide, while areas east will be mild and breezy. The last weekend of January should remain mild with partly cloudy skies on Saturday, but mostly cloudy skies on Sunday with some areas of snow in the western mountains once again. Significant snow and arctic air are no where to be seen heading into the beginning of February.
Enjoy!
Curtis Grevenitz