MISSOULA — Sunshine returned to Western Montana today!
Mostly sunny skies filled in through the afternoon hours in West-Central and Southwest Montana.
A stubborn layer of fog stayed stagnant across the Flathead Valley and Flathead Lake areas this afternoon though.
Those areas will continue to see fog overnight, and widespread fog will redevelop across most Western-Montana valleys again tonight, too.
Tomorrow morning, we will be waking up and driving through patches of freezing fog, and visibility may be reduced to a fourth of a mile at times.
Fog evaporates out early, but clouds will block out most sunshine tomorrow morning and afternoon.
Friday evening is when we are watching our next system arrive.
This next front moves in from the west Friday night/Saturday morning.
This will bring widespread precipitation to Western Montana Friday night, and very isolated chances of precipitation remain in the forecast only through the early morning hours of Saturday.
We are not expecting a washout for the Griz game on Saturday which kicks off at 1 p.m.
Some wintry mix is possible on Friday in lower elevations as temperatures hover just above freezing, but little to no accumulation is expected in valleys.
Snow levels remain at or above 5,000 ft, so upper elevation passes will see snow accumulation Friday night.
If you are traveling over these passes Saturday morning, you may find some slick spots!
Isolated showers and clouds stick around of the end of the weekend.
The next system that is likely to bring more widespread showers and snow showers will move in on Sunday morning and another on Tuesday.
