A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY is in effect for portions of southwestern and central Montana until Saturday morning and for the Little Rockies and portions of northeastern Montana until early Saturday afternoon.
A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY is in effect for portions of western Montana from 11pm Saturday until 11am Monday.
A HIGH WIND WARNING is in effect for locations between the Divide and I-15 in north-central Montana from 5pm Saturday until 5pm Sunday.
A HIGH WIND WATCH is in effect for part of Cascade County and part of Judith Basin County from 8pm Saturday until 5pm Sunday.
There is going to be widespread precipitation around tonight, generally in southern, central, and eastern Montana, including around Glasgow, Helena, and Lewistown, as a disturbance begins to pass through our area. This precipitation will start out as rain in some locations, but will gradually transition over to snow as the night goes on. Around Great Falls and Havre, a little rain and snow is possible tonight, but the bulk of the precipitation with this storm will remain south and east of a line from Great Falls to Havre. North and west of this line it will be mostly dry tonight. We are then going to have decreasing clouds tomorrow with some snow/rain around during the morning and early afternoon in eastern Montana. In central and north-central Montana, a couple snow showers are possible in the mountains tomorrow, but most locations will be dry.
In the lower elevations, up to 5” of snow accumulation is possible through midday tomorrow, and in the mountains, up to 10” of snow accumulation is possible through midday tomorrow. The bulk of this snow accumulation will be in southern, central, and eastern Montana, including around Helena, Lewistown, and Glasgow. For western and most of north-central Montana, including Cut Bank, Great Falls, and Havre, little to no snow accumulation is expected through midday tomorrow. Slick roads are also expected tonight and tomorrow morning in locations that do see some snow, so please use extreme caution when driving and give yourself some extra time to get to where you need to go.
It is also going to be chilly tonight and tomorrow as lows tonight are going to be in the 20s and low 30s in most locations and highs tomorrow are going to be in the mid to upper 30s and low to mid 40s. There is also going to be a bit of a breeze around tonight in northeastern Montana and later tonight along the Rocky Mountain Front as sustained wind speeds are going to be between 10 and 20 mph.
It is then going to be windy tomorrow along the Rocky Mountain Front as sustained wind speeds are going to be between 15 and 35 mph, and it is going to be breezy tomorrow in some areas east of the Rocky Mountain Front as sustained wind speeds are going to be between 10 and 25 mph.
Strong winds are then expected tomorrow night and Sunday along the Rocky Mountain Front as sustained wind speeds are going to be between 30 and 45 mph, and wind gusts up to 65 mph are possible, with wind gusts up to 80 mph possible along the immediate eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountain Front. Elsewhere, gusty to strong winds are expected in a lot of locations tomorrow night and Sunday as sustained wind speeds are going to be between 15 and 35 mph, and wind gusts over 50 mph are possible, especially in Cascade and Judith Basin counties.
There are also going to be a few scattered rain and snow showers around later tomorrow night and on Sunday, especially in the mountains, as a disturbance begins to impact our area. We are also going to have increasing clouds tomorrow night and partly to mostly cloudy skies on Sunday. It is also going to be warmer on Sunday than it is going to be tomorrow as highs are going to be in the mid to upper 40s and low to mid 50s.
There are then going to be scattered snow showers around the Helena area on Monday, generally during the morning, and there are going to be a few isolated rain and snow showers around in north-central Montana on Monday as another disturbance passes through our area. We are also going to have partly to mostly cloudy skies and cooler temperatures on Monday as highs are going to be in the mid to upper 30s and low to mid 40s in most locations. Gusty winds are also expected on Monday as sustained wind speeds are going to be between 10 and 30 mph, and wind gusts over 40 mph are possible.
We are then going to have partly to mostly sunny skies and mostly dry conditions on Tuesday and Wednesday as high pressure is going to briefly be in control of our weather. It is also going to be chilly and a bit breezy on these two days as highs are going to be in the 30s and low to mid 40s and sustained wind speeds are going to be between 10 and 20 mph.
For the end of next week (Thursday and Friday), we are going to have a chance to see some rain and snow, not just in the mountains, but also in the lower elevations as a stronger disturbance passes through our area. It is also going to be cool/chilly later next week as highs are going to be in the 40s and mid to upper 30s.
