MISSOULA - A ridge of high pressure keeps valley inversions in place through Wednesday of this week.
Expect cold temperatures with low clouds/fog and degrading air quality with these inversions.
A blast of arctic air moves east to west across the divide Wednesday night into Thursday.
Snow will be possible as the front passes with light accumulations of an inch or two by Thursday morning.
Expect gusty winds as the front moves through, especially across northwest Montana.
The arctic front will drop low temperatures into the single digits or below zero Thursday through Saturday.
A pattern change to more active weather is looking more likely next week.
The pattern change will open the door for more moisture from the Pacific Ocean to move into the Northern Rockies.
This pattern also leads to milder weather, which would indicate snow in the mountains and rain/snow in the valleys.
More details on this as we move through the week.
