A HIGH WIND WARNING is in effect for portions of central and southwestern Montana until 12am/2am/4am Friday.
A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY is in effect for portions of western and southwestern Montana until 9am/5pm Friday.
A WINTER STORM WARNING is in effect for the Absaroka and Beartooth Mountains until 6pm Saturday.
A cold front is going to move eastward through our area this evening and tonight. There is going to be some precipitation along and behind this cold front, but this precipitation will start to break apart as it crosses I-15. Precipitation will initially start out as rain, but it will transition over to snow. Some of this precipitation may also be heavy at times, which means low visibility and quickly deteriorating road conditions are possible. In the lower elevations, a quick coating to an inch or two of snow accumulation is possible in locations that do see some of this snow. Behind the main line of precipitation, there will be some light snow around, generally in central Montana.
We are also going to continue to have gusty to strong winds around this evening, but the wind will gradually diminish after the cold front passes through. It is also going to be cool tonight as lows are going to be in the 20s and low to mid 30s. Partly to mostly cloudy skies are also expected tonight.
For tomorrow, we are going to have partly cloudy skies with scattered snow showers around the Helena area and isolated snow/rain showers around in north-central Montana. It is also going to be cooler tomorrow than it was today as highs are going to be in the mid to upper 30s and low to mid 40s in most locations. We are also going to have less wind around tomorrow, but it is still going to be breezy in some areas as sustained wind speeds are going to be between 10 and 25 mph.
There are then going to be areas of snow (and some rain in eastern portions of north-central Montana) around Saturday and Saturday night as another storm system passes through our area. Right now, it looks like most lower elevation locations will receive between a coating and 4 inches of snow by Sunday morning, with higher amounts expected in the mountains. There are also going to be a few more snow showers around on Sunday, especially in the mountains. We are also going to have mostly cloudy skies on Saturday and partly cloudy skies on Sunday.
The temperatures are also going to cool down some more this weekend as highs are going to range from the low 20s to the low 40s on Saturday and highs are going to be in the mid to upper teens and low to mid 20s on Sunday. There is also going to be a bit of a breeze around in some areas on Saturday as sustained wind speeds are going to be between 10 and 20 mph.
On Monday, we are going to have partly cloudy skies with a few scattered snow showers around, generally during the afternoon/evening and especially in the mountains. It is also going to be chilly and a little breezy on Monday as highs are going to be in the teens and 20s and sustained wind speeds are going to be between 5 and 20 mph.
There is then going to be scattered snow around on Tuesday and Wednesday, especially in the mountains, as a couple more disturbances pass through our area. We are also going to have partly to mostly cloudy skies on these two days. There is also going to be a bit of a breeze around on these two days as sustained wind speeds are going to be between 10 and 20 mph. We are also going to have below average temperatures on these two days as highs are going to be in the upper teens, 20s, and low to mid 30s.
