MISSOULA — Warm air is leading to widespread rain showers for both mountains and valleys this morning.
Hefty amounts of rain will be possible in the mountains through today with 1"-to-3" expected. Some isolated higher amounts will also be possible. Due to the amount of rainfall, rock and mudslides will become a concern for mid slopes and lower elevations in Idaho and areas along the Montana/Idaho border.
A strong cold front will move through western Montana this morning. Along and behind the front strong to damaging winds will be possible across western Montana with gusts of 40-60 mph possible. Downed trees and power outages will be a concern today across western Montana. The strongest wind gusts look to arrive during the late morning and afternoon.
After the front moves through, snow levels will come crashing down to many valleys floors this afternoon. Now by this time, drier air will be moving in, so precipitation will be much lighter, however, there is the chance for scattered snow showers to develop across all of western Montana this afternoon and evening.
Much quieter weather is expected Thursday and continuing through the weekend. A few weak systems will bring a few rain and snow showers back to the forecast Friday and Sunday. The biggest impacts from this will be winter driving conditions over mountain passes.
Taking a quick look at the extended forecast. Models are in good agreement for a pattern change to occur around the middle to end of next week. This change looks to signal the end of our mild winter weather we have been experiencing as highs by the end of next week and weekend look to only be in the 20s to low 30s. Stay tuned for details on this moving forward!
