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MISSOULA- It's going to be a great weekend in western Montana so get out and enjoy the weather. There's still plenty of snow on the mountains so skiers and snowboarders alike will have a couple of great days to hit the slopes.

Friday will be partly cloudy across the area as a ridge of high pressure builds in to the Pacific Northwest. We've also got cool air moving in from Canada and settling into the Treasure State. We'll warm up from a start in the teens a low 20s to the lower 30s through the day. And watch out for the ice today! Since we saw a lot of melt yesterday after our warm up, areas of water froze overnight and will likely remain frozen today because we're not expecting to warm much above freezing.

Tonight, with partly cloudy skies continuing to be the trend, we'll cool down into the teens. Between cool air settling in the valleys and high pressure dominating our weather, we have the potential for patchy ice fog to form by Saturday morning. Be aware that travel could be affected by that if you're planning on getting an early start on Saturday's activities.

Saturday will continue to bring sunshine to Western Montana. We'll see a few more clouds in the southwest part of the state, but still enough sun to make for a beautiful day. Our temperatures will continue to run a few degrees below normal only topping out in the lower 30s. But then again, it's the end of January in Montana.

The later part of the weekend features a chance for valley rain and snow. Starting Saturday night, a weak system moves across the region upping our potential for snow in the northwest valleys. As we warm up during the day on Sunday, we've got a 50-50 chance for a rain-snow mix in the Flathead, Mission and Kootenai regions. The farther south you go, the more the potential decreases. We'll still see sunshine mixed in with the scattered showers. Our highs on Sunday will be in the upper 30s to lower 40s.

Monday continues our chance for valley rain-snow mix as the cold front continues its trek eastward. But the middle part of next week is looking to bring sun and temperatures in the mid to upper 30s as we inch towards the early part of February.

Contact Chrissy Kohler