BOZEMAN – The forecast is verifying nicely as widespread snow is impacting SW Montana Friday afternoon and temperatures are holding steady in the lower 30s. There is a high-water content in the snow and slush covered roads and wet roads will be susceptible to flash freezing Friday night into Saturday morning as Arctic digs in from the North.
There are widespread winter storm warnings and a few winter weather advisories up through midnight Saturday. Snow will continue to be the greatest hazard through Saturday evening.
Once the snow ends and skies clear look for temperatures to fall well below zero by Saturday evening into Sunday morning. The coldest lows should be Monday morning with below zero temperatures again Tuesday morning and gradually moderating temperatures begin next Wednesday.
The National Weather Service continues a WINTER STORM WARNING for most of SW Montana through midnight Saturday. Periods of heavy snow, some localized areas of blowing snow, and extremely icy road conditions are likely.
The National Weather Service continues a WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY from Monida Pass to Dillon to Whitehall and over to Three Forks and up to Townsend through midnight Saturday. Snow accumulations here should be a little lower compared to the rest of SW Montana but wet roads flash freezing will be an extremely hazardous travel pattern.
The National Weather Service issued an AVALANCHE WARNING across Gallatin and Madison counties and over into western Montana. Heavy wet snow on top of weak sublayers will produce high avalanche danger heading into the weekend.
