MISSOULA — A brief quiet period set up overnight and this morning, this won't last long as our next system quickly moves in Thursday afternoon into Friday.
Thursday starts quiet before mountain snow along with valley rain, or rain/snow develop again this afternoon. These showers will continue overnight into Friday.
Heavy snow will fall in the mountains over the next 24-36 hours. A Winter Storm Warning has been issued for the Bitterroot and Sapphire mountains, this includes Lolo and Lost Trail passes. Lolo Pass could see 8"-to-14" by Friday evening while Lost Trail Pass picks up 16"-to-24".
Winter Weather Advisories are issued for Lookout Pass along with Marias Pass with 6"-to-12" possible starting this evening and continuing through Friday.
Unfortunately, we have to talk about the winds as this next system will again bring strong winds to western Montana. Now, it doesn't look to be as strong as yesterday, however, wind gusts between 40 and 50 mph will be possible tonight into Friday morning.
Things quiet down a bit for the weekend. Expect high temperatures in the low to mid 30s with some scattered mountain snow along with valley rain/snow through the weekend.
