After a beautiful stretch of sunny and warm October weather, a return to stormy conditions will occur this week with cooler temperatures, rain, thunderstorms and mountain snow. A low pressure system working into Washington and Oregon will bring an end to the unusually warm and dry weather. Tuesday will have partly to mostly cloudy skies in western Montana while the eastern half of the state will still have one more sunny and dry day. Highs will range from the 70s east to the 50s and 60s west and central. A cold front will push into western Montana through the afternoon with showers and thunderstorms. Wet weather will reach into central Montana later in the evening. Rain showers and isolated thunderstorms will continue through Tuesday night into Wednesday. Wednesday will be mostly cloudy with showers across most of the state. Snow will fly in the higher terrain, generally above 7000'. Highs will be in the 50s and 60s. While most low pressures come and go, this one will stick around for a little longer. A big area of high pressure centered over central Canada will block the "exit" of the storm impacting Montana, so the storm will persist through Thursday into Friday. Thursday will be a grey, chilly, dreary day with lower snow levels. Light rain will fall with snow possibly down to about 5000'. Highs will only be in the 40s and 50s in the lower elevations, 30s in the mountains. Mountain passes will likely have accumulating snow of up to a few inches. The stubborn storm will keep clouds and a few isolated showers around on Friday. Slow clearing will take place through the afternoon and evening, highs will top out in the 50s. Great timing with the clearing of this storm as a solar eclipse will happen on Saturday morning. Saturday will be partly cloudy, and with as much as 70% of the sun being blocked by the moon, the light through the morning hours will be dim. The eclipse will occur between 9:00am and noon, with peak eclipse happening at about 10:26am. The rest of Saturday will be partly cloudy with highs in the 50s and 60s. Sunday will be partly to mostly cloudy with a few isolated showers as a weaker system moves through.
Have a great day!
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist
