BOZEMAN – Very warm and windy ahead of a cold front Wednesday afternoon with near record highs east of the divide in SW Montana.
This will be the last unseasonably warm weather day for a while as a deep trough of Low-pressure is digging into the Pacific NW and should slide over Montana Wednesday night into Thursday.
Temperatures could 30 to 40 degrees cooler Thursday compared with Wednesday.
There is some moisture with this pattern change and with the colder air snow is in the forecast for all area mountains and passes with a rain/snow mix for lower valleys or short periods of all snow in the early morning hours Thursday and again Friday morning.
The National Weather Service continues a WINTER STORM WARNING for mountain ranges in Madison, Gallatin, and Park Counties.
Above 7,000’ there could be up to or over a foot of snow and below 7,000’ there could be up to 6” of snow in the areas highlighted in pink
The National Weather Service has also issued WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES Wednesday evening through Friday morning for all other mountains and passes in SW Montana.
Snow accumulations will be highly varied, but enough snow and icy road surface will create hazardous conditions for mountain passes Thursday into Friday.
There will be gusty surface winds with this system as well and localized areas of blowing snow is possible.
After the storm moves out and skies clear morning lows Saturday will be much colder in the single digits to teens.