While the first half of January has been fairly dry and mild, a little reality check is on the way. High pressure that made for sunny skies, valley inversions, and prairie warmth this weekend is moving out. Tuesday will start out cold again with temperatures in the 0s and 10s. Under mostly sunny skies, afternoon highs will be more uniform across the state in the 20s and 30s. A few mainly mountain snow showers are possible late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Wednesday will be a partly cloudy day with highs around the freezing point, close to average. Thursday is when snow will develop across the state, from western Montana in the morning to eastern Montana later in the afternoon. It will be a cold, snowy day with travel affected by snow-covered and icy roads. Highs will be colder in the 10s and 20s. Snow will continue Thursday night into Friday, and the snow will continue to accumulate. Most lower elevation areas in the state will see between 2-6″ from Thursday into Friday, and the mountains will see between 6-12″. Snow will taper off into Saturday morning and skies will become partly cloudy by the afternoon. Sunday will briefly warm up into the 40s with a stronger southwest wind, but another cold front will move through Sunday night into Monday with more snow showers and a likelihood of accumulation. It’s Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday weekend so many people will be out and about traveling, just be prepared for more wintry conditions than we’ve had in a little while. Here comes January!
Curtis Grevenitz
