A FLOOD WARNING continues for many areas along the Milk River for major flooding.
A WINTER STORM WARNING has been issued for extreme northeast Montana and the Little Rocky Mountains.
A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY has been issued for the higher terrain of central, eastern and southwest Montana.
A powerful spring storm has already produced widespread thunderstorms, and will transition to a major snowstorm with up to 30" in the mountains. Thunderstorms have produced heavy rain and even hail and snow already. Storms will continue to work through the state overnight. Rain and thunderstorms will gradually change to snow through Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning. Snow will move throughout central and eastern Montana on Wednesday. Heavy snow with powerful wind will create very dangerous travel conditions across a lot of central, north-central and eastern Montana through the day. Heavy wet snow will accumulate with wind gusts up to 50mph. Places in western and southwest Montana will be mostly cloudy with a few snow showers and strong west wind. Central, northern and eastern Montana will have heavy snow and strong wind through most of the day. Travel will be difficult at times there. Highs will be in the 30s and 40s. Snow will increase across most of the state along and east of the Continental Divide through Thursday. Areas of light snow will be widespread with highs only in the 20s and 30s. Snow will accumulate in the lower elevations as well, but it should be light. The storm will start to pull away on Friday but some areas of snow will linger, especially across eastern Montana. The good news is this weekend will be warmer. Saturday will be partly to mostly sunny with highs in the 50s. Sunday will be partly to mostly cloudy with highs in the 50s and 60s. There will be a few showers later in the day.
Historic flooding continues for parts of the Hi-Line along the Milk River and its tributaries. This storm will contribute to more flooding later this week and this weekend. Precipitation has been falling as heavy rain and will ultimately fall as heavy snow as well. The snow will melt this weekend continuing the saturated situation. Please avoid flood waters. Watch the kids and the pets. And if you are driving, please "turn around, don't drown" as the road might be washed away underneath.
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist
