For tonight, we are going to have partly cloudy skies and dry conditions in central Montana, and partly cloudy skies with a chance of rain showers in eastern Montana as a cold front continues to work its way through our area. It is also going to be chilly tonight as lows are going to be in the upper 30s and low 40s. The wind is also going to diminish as we go through tonight as sustained wind speeds before midnight are going to be between 10 and 25 mph, and sustained wind speeds after midnight are going to be between 5 and 20 mph. There is also a Lake Wind Advisory in effect for Fort Peck Lake until 4am tomorrow morning.
For Wednesday, we are going to have mostly cloudy skies with some scattered rain showers around, mainly after 12pm and mainly in central Montana, as an upper level storm system begins to approach our area. Precipitation is then going to overspread our area tomorrow night as this storm system sets itself up over our area. Precipitation is then likely in all locations on Thursday and Friday as this storm system remains fairly stationary, allowing widespread moisture to work its way into our area.
From tomorrow through Friday, over .5 inches of precipitation is expected in all locations, with most locations receiving between .75 and 1.50 inches of precipitation. On Wednesday, this precipitation is going to be in the form of rain in the valleys and a rain/snow mix in the mountains as highs are going to be in the mid 50s. On Thursday and Friday, a mix of snow and rain is expected in the valleys, and all snow is expected in the mountains as highs are only going to be in the mid to upper 30s and low 40s, and lows are going to be in the upper 20s and low to mid 30s.
Since snow is in the forecast, there is a Winter Storm Warning in effect for the Rocky Mountain Front from 9pm tomorrow through 9am Friday as 4 to 8 inches of snow accumulation is expected in the lower elevations, and 8 to 15+ inches of snow accumulation is expected in the higher elevations. There is also a Winter Weather Advisory in effect for locations along the Rocky Mountain Front and the I-15 corridor as 1 to 4 inches of snow accumulation is expected in the lower elevations, and 4 to 10 inches of snow accumulation is expected in the higher elevations. This snow and rain on Thursday and Friday may create difficult driving conditions and areas of reduced visibility, so definitely be careful if you are going to be traveling on either of these days.
Decreasing clouds and isolated rain/snow showers are then expected on Saturday as this upper level storm system begins to work its way away from our area. There are then going to be scattered rain showers around on Sunday as we get some wrap-around moisture from this storm system. The temperatures are also going to warm up some this weekend as highs on Saturday are going to be in the mid to upper 40s, and highs on Sunday are going to be in the mid to upper 50s.
Monday and Tuesday are then going to have partly to mostly cloudy skies with a chance of rain showers as yet another storm system begins to impact our area. The temperatures on these two days are also going to be near to a little bit below average for this time of year as highs are going to be in the low to mid 60s. It is also going to be breezy on Monday as sustained wind speeds are going to be between 10 and 20 mph, and wind gusts are going to be between 20 and 30 mph.
