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MISSOULA- Your Thursday is going to be almost a carbon copy of what we saw on Wednesday in Western Montana. The only different is winds will not be quite as much of a factor today.

Thanks to our temperatures staying above freezing since just after midnight Wednesday morning, ice isn't much of an issue for the morning commute. Patchy areas of ice are still possible especially in areas that are hover right around and just below freezing. But it's definitely not as much of a widespread problem as it was yesterday morning.

Today will bring light valley rain and even a few flakes mixing in with continued mountain snow. It's a very similar situation to Wednesday where the showers will be light on and off through the day. But things will start to clear out by dinnertime. We may even see a few peaks of sunshine shortly before sunset this evening.

Because of higher elevation snow, winter weather advisories are in effect until 5PM. The Bitterroot and Sapphire Mountains, including Lost Trail and Lolo passes can expect 4-8" of snow. Winds will gust 35 mph creating blowing snow conditions. Seeley Lake and Potomac have the potential for 2" to 5" of snow with 6" to 10" over the Seeley-Swan Mountains. The West Glacier region could receive a shot of 2" to 4" of snow today with 5-9" in the higher elevations. Winds in the region could gust up to 45 mph creating reduced visibilities at times. Lookout Pass can expect 6" to 10" of snow with drifting snow conditions as winds gust up to 40 mph.

Tonight a ridge of high pressure moves in behind our low pressure bringing us clearing skies. The combination of a colder air mass moving in and clearing skies will help our temperatures drop down to the lower 20s and teens.

The weekend is still looking great with plenty of sunshine thanks to the ridge of high pressure. Our temperatures will drop off to the lower 30s for Friday and Saturday but Sunday and into the early part of next week, we're back around average which is in the mid 30s.

Contact Chrissy Kohler