MISSOULA — Snow will continue to fall in west-central and southwest Montana Friday morning.
By the afternoon valleys will see snow transition to a rain/snow mix as highs warm into the upper 30s and 40's. Northwest Montana looks to stay mostly dry today with cloudy skies overhead.
Another system will bring valley rain/snow and mountain snow to all of western Montana Friday night into Saturday.
The valleys across western Montana will have the potential to pick up an additional 1"-to-3" while the mountains see another 4"-to-6". High temperatures Saturday will be mostly in the middle to upper 30's.
Drier weather will move into the forecast to start next week. Highs will be in the middle to upper 30's both Sunday and Monday with mostly to partly cloudy skies.
For several days now, models had been showing an arctic air mass moving into the northern Rockies by the middle of next week. That now does not seem to be the case.
Recent model trends are keeping the coldest air well east of us in eastern Montana and the Dakotas.
This means the latest thinking for next week keeps temperatures right around seasonal average with highs remaining in the middle to upper 30's along a few scattered rain and snow showers.