A HIGH WIND WATCH has been issued for the East Glacier area and northern Rocky Mountain Front from Tuesday morning into Wednesday morning.
Thanksgiving is almost here and so is a storm that will have an impact on travel the day before and the day of the holiday. If you're traveling on Tuesday, you're in luck. High pressure will move across the state for nice weather. There will be a good amount of sunshine and high temperatures will top out in the 50s and low 60s. The one issue will be some stronger wind up around the East Glacier area with gusts up to 70mph. Other than that, it's smooth sailing and dry roads across Montana and most of the West. Wednesday is one of the busiest travel days of the year and travel conditions will deteriorate through the day. A cold front will work south out of Canada and a new storm will move in from the Pacific. A little light rain and snow will develop through the morning across northern Montana. This front will head south through the afternoon and evening. Light rain will mix with and change to snow through the evening into the night. If you travel early, it's likely that you get ahead of this storm. Later Wednesday evening as temperatures drop into the 20s and 30s, snow will fall and stick to the roads. Wednesday night's temperatures will drop into the 10s and 20s with light snow falling into the morning. A coating up to a couple inches is possible by dawn on Thanksgiving. Roads will be slippery. Thanksgiving Day will be cloudy with light snow for western, central and southern Montana. The Hi-Line will likely not see much if any snow from this system, and will be partly cloudy on Thanksgiving. Temperatures will be mostly in the 20s and low 30s for highs. An additional inch or two is possible in the lower elevations, with another few inches in the mountains. This storm does not have a ton of moisture to work with and the snow will mainly be light. Light snow will gradually come to an end through the night into Friday morning as high pressure moves in. Friday will turn mostly sunny with highs in the 20s and low 30s. There will be some blowing snow along the Rocky Mountain Front to potentially Great Falls as the wind picks up out of the west. High pressure will continue to move in for the remainder of the holiday weekend. Saturday will be clear with highs in the 20s and 30s. Sunday is another big travel day and it looks like smooth sailing under partly cloudy skies. Highs will be in the 30s to around 40 with a little wind across the plains.
Have a great day,
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist
