WINTER WEATHER ALERTS remain in effect for some of the mountains in central and south-central Montana through tonight/tomorrow morning.
Much-needed moisture has fallen in portions of central and north-central Montana since Sunday evening, with some locations receiving over 1" of precipitation, including Great Falls, Helena, and Lewistown. The northern part of the Golden Triangle (Chester/Conrad/Shelby area) and northeastern Montana didn't do as well through with a lot of locations receiving <.15" of rain.
In the past 24 hours (6pm Sunday to 6pm Monday), the Great Falls Airport received 1.31" of rain, which is more precipitation than Great Falls received in the previous 75 days combined (1.27")!
As we go through this evening, the lingering rain/snow south and east of Helena and in Fergus and Judith Basin Counties will continue to taper off. For tonight, we are going to have partly cloudy to mostly clear skies and mostly dry conditions. Some areas of fog may also develop tonight, especially in north-central Montana. It is also going to be a bit chilly tonight as lows are going to be in the mid to upper 20s and low to mid 30s.
Much nicer weather is expected tomorrow as we are going to have partly to mostly sunny skies, mainly dry conditions, and warmer temperatures as highs are going to be in the mid to upper 50s and low to mid 60s. It is also going to be a bit breezy in western/central portions of north-central Montana tomorrow as sustained wind speeds are going to be between 10 and 20 mph. There may also be some fog around tomorrow morning.
An upper-level ridge is then going to provide us with nice weather from Wednesday through Friday as we are going to have mostly sunny skies and warm temperatures as highs are going to be in the 70s and low 80s in most locations. It is also going to be mostly dry over these three days, but there will be some isolated showers and thunderstorms around Thursday afternoon/evening, generally in central Montana.
On Wednesday, it is going to be breezy in some areas as sustained wind speeds are going to be between 10 and 20 mph. Gusty winds are then expected on Thursday as sustained wind speeds are going to be between 10 and 30 mph, and wind gusts up to 40 mph are possible, with even stronger wind expected along the Rocky Mountain Front. There is then going to be little to no wind around on Friday.
Saturday will be the nicer day of the weekend as we are going to have partly cloudy skies, mainly dry conditions, just a little breeze, and warm temperatures as highs are going to be in the 80s. On Sunday, we are going to have mostly cloudy skies with scattered showers and thunderstorms around during the afternoon/evening as a cold front begins to pass through our area. It is also going to be warm again on Sunday as highs are going to be in the 80s and mid to upper 70s.
There are then going to be more scattered showers and thunderstorms around on Monday as a disturbance continues to impact our area. We are also going to have a wide range of temperatures on Monday as highs are going to range from the mid 60s near the Divide to the mid 80s in northeastern Montana.
