There have been rain showers around throughout this afternoon, and there are going to continue to be rain showers around this evening and tonight as a cold front slowly works its way across Montana. For this evening and early tonight, most of the precipitation will be in central Montana. After midnight though, most of the precipitation will be in eastern Montana with just a few lingering showers around in central Montana. Also, most of the precipitation this evening and tonight will be in the form of rain, but some snow will be possible after midnight in the higher elevations.
For tomorrow, eastern Montana is going to have valley rain and mountain rain/snow showers around throughout the day, but especially during the morning. In central Montana, there will be a few valley rain and mountain rain/snow showers around during the morning, then valley rain and mountain rain/snow showers are likely during the afternoon and evening. Snow is then likely tomorrow night in the mountains, and rain and snow is likely tomorrow night in the valleys, with primarily rain expected before midnight, then a mix of rain and snow between midnight and 5am, and then primarily snow after 5am. Snow and rain is then likely in all locations on Sunday, with this precipitation generally becoming more showery and scattered in nature during the afternoon and evening.
In the valleys, a coating to 3 inches of snow accumulation is possible this weekend, with most of that snow accumulation occurring Saturday night through Sunday morning. In the mountains, 4 to 8+ inches of snow accumulation is expected this weekend. Also, since some snow is in the forecast, there is a Winter Weather Advisory in effect from 6pm Saturday through noon on Sunday for Cascade County, Judith Basin County, and Meagher County as slick roads are expected. Now in terms of total precipitation (rain and melted snow) between this evening and Sunday evening, generally .25 to .75 inches is expected, although some isolated locations may pick up over an inch of total precipitation over the next couple of days.
To go along with the wet weather, it is also going to be chilly this weekend as highs are only going to be in the mid to upper 40s and low 50s, and lows are going to be in the low to mid 30s. It is also going to be a bit breezy (sustained wind speeds between 5 and 20 mph) tonight and tomorrow night, and it is going to be breezy tomorrow as sustained wind speeds are going to be between 10 and 25 mph, and wind gusts are going to be between 30 and 45 mph.
The weather will then start to improve as we head into next week. Yes, we are still going to have a chance to see some valley rain and mountain rain/snow showers on Monday and Tuesday, but overall, we are going to be a lot drier on these two days than we are going to be this weekend. We are also going to start to see more sunshine on these two days as partly to mostly cloudy skies are expected on Monday, and mostly sunny skies are expected on Tuesday. The temperatures are also going to warm up some over these two days as highs on Monday are going to be in the mid 50s, and highs on Tuesday are going to be in the low to mid 60s.
Partly to mostly cloudy skies and mostly dry conditions are then expected on Wednesday as high pressure is briefly going to be in control of our weather. Some isolated rain showers are then possible on Thursday as the next storm system begins to approach our area, and we’ll have a chance of rain showers next Friday as this storm system passes through our area. The temperatures on these three days are also going to be above average for this time of year as highs are going to be in the mid to upper 60s and low 70s.
