MISSOULA — Winter Weather Advisories remain in effect for Western Montana (excluding lower elevation valley floors) through Friday morning and afternoon.
Snow piles in from the west, and Lookout and Lolo Passes will see close to a foot of snow accumulation during this time.
Valleys along the I-90/ HWY-200 corridor west of Missoula will total around 2-5” of new snow (St. Regis, Thompson Falls, Alberton, etc).
Seeley Lake, Swan Lake, and the areas along HWY-83 will receive 5-9” of snow with up to a foot possible in mountains.
The northwest corner will receive closer to 2-4”.
West Glacier region along US-2 will total 3-7”.
Banding is possible Thursday night and Friday morning.
Under heavier bands of snow, rates of accumulation could jump to 1-2” per hour!
It isn’t just the snow prompting these advisories.
The wind will gust close to 30-40 MPH in some of these areas, so while snow is falling, wind will be drifting and blowing snow across roadways.
Expect visibility to be reduced to a mile or less during these times.
Snow continues to fall through Friday afternoon, but drier air moves in for the weekend.
An early morning isolated snow shower will fall before skies clear to show more blue sky by Sunday.
Highs this weekend are on a slow warming trend as we jump to the upper 30s by Sunday.
We hold mostly dry and warmer (upper 30s/low 40s) through midweek next week.
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