MISSOULA — An approaching low pressure and warm front brings a wide range of weather through Wednesday.
Tonight:
Precipitation will start out as snow, rain/snow or freezing rain. The best chance for valley snow is across northwest Montana primarily from the Flathead Valley and east. Here, valleys could see 1"-to-3" of snow with 6"-to-10" for Big Mountain at Whitefish, Marias Pass and the mountains of Glacier National Park.
Snow of 3"-to-7" will be possible over Lookout, Lolo and Lost Trail passes along the MT/ID border.
The Mission Valley and areas west can expect 1" of snow or less with freezing rain possible. Valleys along and south of the I-90 corridor will primarily see rain rain/snow or freezing rain.
Wednesday:
As the warm front moves though temperatures quickly climb leading to all rain in the valleys and even rain/snow at pass level. To show just how strong this warm front is, Great Falls will see a high temperature of 26° today and 53° tomorrow.
Strong winds start tomorrow afternoon and continue through the evening. Areas from the Flathead Valley to the Bitterroot Valley and east of there could see wind gusts of 40-to-50 mph. With isolated gusts of 60 mph possible, especially in the Bitterroot Valley. Locations further west along the MT/ID border will see wind gusts around 35-45 mph. The strongest winds are expected from 11 am - 11 pm Wednesday.
After all this high pressure quickly returns Thursday leading to sunshine, mild and calm weather to end the week.
