A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY has been issued for the mountains of southwest Montana for Thursday.
That's a wild picture of snow geese taking off at Freezeout Lake. After days of quiet and mild conditions, the weather is about to get a little wild on Thursday. A strong cold front will sweep across the state with squalls of rain and snow, strong wind, and even a few isolated thunderstorms. A squall is a burst of heavy precipitation and wind, and that will likely occur right along the cold front. The front should arrive in Helena right around noon to 1pm, Great Falls 1-2pm, Lewistown and Havre 3-4pm. It's around Lewistown north to Havre where some areas might have their first thunderstorms of the season. Highs will be in the 40s and 50s but fall late in the day as colder air works in. Very strong wind will accompany the front. Thursday night is a total lunar eclipse that begins at 10pm. While there will be partly to mostly cloudy skies Thursday night, the "Blood Moon" should still be visible through the clouds. Parts of central and eastern Montana may have too much cloud cover still as the front continues to work slowly to the east. Friday will be a much different day with colder temperatures, partly cloudy skies and mountain snow showers. Highs will be in the 30s and 40s with snow showers that could be heavy in the mountains. While the lower elevations could see a quick coating of snow, several inches could accumulate in some of the mountains. Unsettled weather will continue this weekend with snow showers in the mountains on Saturday. Sunday will be mostly cloudy with mild temperatures as a storm moves into the state with some showers and higher elevation snow later in the day. This new storm will bring a mix of rain and snow to the state on Sunday night into Monday morning. St. Patrick's Day is Monday and after some rain and snow in the morning, the afternoon should turn partly cloudy and windy with mountain snow showers.
Have a great day,
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist
