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MISSOULA- Mild temperatures have helped with road conditions through Western Montana valleys on Wednesday morning. But snow and wind at the higher elevations is making for some challenging driving conditions in the passes.

The Montana Department of Transportation reports Interstate 90 over Lookout Pass has wet roads this morning, and unlike Tuesday when slush caused several accidents on the freeway, driving conditions are good on the interstate all the way through Western Montana.

(photo of Lolo Pass courtesy IDT)

Lolo Pass and Lost Trail Pass were seeing new snow this morning, with ice or black ice making driving tricky on the summits. But U.S. Highway 12 and U.S. Highway 93 had bare and wet roads once drivers reach the valleys.

The passes over the Continental Divide are another story. Gusty winds and new snow was creating some difficult driving conditions on Marias, Rogers and MacDonald passes during the early morning hours. In some cases that blowing snow was reducing visibility, and with more high winds still in the forecast those passes will likely remain tough going through Thursday morning.

Elsewhere, it was snowing over Chief Joseph Pass down into the Big Hole Valley. Interstate 15 was seeing high winds in Dillon and Southwest Montana, with snow north of Butte and more high winds in the Great Falls region. I-90 drivers were running into more snow on Bozeman Pass.