MISSOULA — Most of western Montana will be dry Wednesday with cloudy to mostly cloudy skies and highs remaining in the 30s to low 40s.
The exception to this will be locations in northwest Montana along the Montana/Idaho border ( Troy, Libby, Trout Creek, Thompson Falls). These areas will see scattered rain/snow showers develop this afternoon as our next system approaches the region.
Another round of mountain snow and valley rain/snow will develop Wednesday night and continue into Thursday morning. As this system is moving through during the overnight hours, some valleys may see minor snow accumulations through Thursday morning, however, even the highest amounts will generate only around 1". Most of the impacts with this system will once again be in the mountains.
By Friday and continuing into the weekend an overall drier and slightly cooler weather pattern will set up. Expect highs in the low to mid 30s with a mix of sun and clouds over head.
Taking a quick look at next week, models are showing the potential for a large ridge of high pressure to build over the western half of the United States. This means by next week we may be talking about valley inversions and stagnant air over the region... In any case it looks like valleys will remain snow free through at least the next few weeks.
