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A chilly start leads to a pleasant Thursday afternoon

Warming trend continues through Friday
Posted at 3:26 PM, Oct 23, 2019
and last updated 2019-10-23 17:26:38-04

MISSOULA — Stubborn, lingering showers move out of West-Central Montana later this evening.

The ridge of high pressure hasn’t been strong enough to hold off those isolated showers today, but high pressure will keep us warmer and dry Thursday and Friday afternoon.

Temperatures go from the 40s and 50s today to the low 60s in some valleys on Friday.

The warming trend will continue through the end of the week before our next major system pushes in for the beginning of the weekend.

A fast-moving cold front sweeps through our area late Friday night into the very early hours of Saturday morning.

This means we could see some breezy conditions on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.

Temperatures top out in the upper 50s and low 60s Friday afternoon, but lows Friday will drop to the mid to low 30s in valleys.

This means the incoming precipitation associated with the next system could involve mixing in valleys and snow across mountains and passes.

We will be waking up to a wintry mix and rain in valleys on Saturday morning, but little to no impacts are expected in these lower elevations.

It will be the passes we are watching once again with this system.

Widespread showers, wintry mix, and snow will move out by Saturday afternoon, but isolated pockets of precipitation are still possible through Saturday evening.

After the front moves through and precipitation moves out, expect much cooler than average temperatures to settle into Western Montana.

A high-pressure system moves in but brings much cooler air from the north.

While we stay dry to start next week, temperatures will only top out in the mid to low 40s and even 30s across the area through midweek.