MISSOULA — Our first winter storm of the season will bring widespread snow and cold temperatures to western Montana tonight into Wednesday.
Today:
Precipitation starts in Northwest Montana as an arctic air mass approaches. The valleys will see a rain-snow mix with snow in the mountains. As temperatures drop, the valleys change into all snow by the afternoon.
Models have been trending down on snow for Northwest Montana over the past 24 hours as a drier air mass looks to set up.
With that being said, Winter Weather Advisories have been issued for the Flathead and Mission valleys and areas west of there (Libby, Trout Creek, Troy, Eureka). These areas could see 1"-to-3" of snow by the time this is done on Wednesday.
A Winter Storm Warning is in place for the Glacier Region with 1"-to-3" in the valleys and 3"-to-6" in the mountains.
Tonight through Wednesday:
The arctic air mass makes its way into west-central and Southwest Montana.
There is more uncertainty here with models hinting at a rather heavy area of snow setting up. The main factor will be how long it takes rain to transition over into snow. If the change is quick snow amounts will be more, if it takes a bit longer snow will be less.
Right now, a Winter Storm Warning has been issued for the Missoula and Bitterroot valleys along with the I-90 corridor west of Missoula. Snow amounts could range from 2"-to-6" in the valleys and 6"-to-12" in the mountains.
The most snow will fall along and east of the Divide tonight into Wednesday.
A Winter Storms Warning is in place for the Seeley/Swan Valley along with the I-90 corridor east of Missoula to Butte. This includes Georgetown Lake, Philipsburg and Anaconda. Here valleys could see 3"-to-7" with 8"-to-12" in the mountains.
Snow will continue to fall Wednesday and Thursday with highs only in the 30s.
Cold and dry weather sets up for the weekend with highs in the 30s and lows in the single digits and teens.
