BOZEMAN – Another weather pattern again this weekend. It starts with a strong cold front Saturday morning and wraps up with much cooler temperatures by Sunday.
Greatest concern weather-wise Saturday is strong surface winds. A pressure gradient will strengthen Saturday morning producing surface winds 20 to 30 mph by Saturday afternoon. High wind prone areas like Ennis, Norris Hill, Whitehall, Three Forks, Townsend could see peak gusts around 60 mph.
The National Weather Service has a HIGH WIND WATCH up for SW Montana Saturday east of the divide. I expect this watch will be modified to a high wind warning later Friday or by Saturday morning.
The National Weather Service issued a WIND ADVISORY for the Butte/Blackfoot region Saturday 9 am to 6 pm. Sustained winds 20 to 30 mph and peak gusts 45 mph. Strongest winds will likely develop between Butte and Deer Lodge. Watch for strong crosswind gusts on I-90 from Warm Springs to Deer Lodge.
The front will be heading into Eastern Montana Sunday morning. Cooler air will move in behind this storm and temperatures will fall a good 30+ degrees by Sunday. In fact, cool enough to produce high mountain snow Sunday into Monday morning.
There will be scattered showers and thunderstorms with this storm Saturday evening into Sunday and right now the area impacted will be along the Continental Divide.
Temperatures next week will remain below normal for SW Montana.
