BOZEMAN – Limited moisture lingers over Montana Thursday evening with a slight chance for mountain snow and lower valleys picking up a few isolated showers. Pockets of freezing rain are possible into Friday morning, travelers beware.
A short-lived High-pressure ridge will bring slightly warmer temperatures to the region Friday into Saturday, but a pacific storm will start to push moisture into Montana by Saturday afternoon.
NEXT WEATHER MAKER
A pacific storm system will push into the western half of the country Friday and reach the central and northern Rockies by Saturday. As this storm moves eastward it should weaken before reaching SW Montana, but the overall forecast is calling for widespread snow Saturday night through Sunday evening.
Warmer air will roll up ahead of this storm Saturday and combined with increasing surface winds temperatures could hit the low to mid 40s Saturday.
The one issue with warm air advection ahead of a storm system is mixed precipitation could develop Saturday evening and as the colder air digs in Sunday snow is likely. Wet roads could become icy Sunday into Monday morning.
Numerous Christmas strolls are scheduled for Friday night and Saturday across SW Montana. Right now the overall forecast is good with mild to cool temperatures and localized gusty winds.
FLU INDEX
The National Flu Index update today shows widespread to regional flu cases across the southern half of the country and into California and Nevada.
The Pacific NW is seeing an increase in flu cases and across Montana local activity continues but will likely worsen by the end of the month.
Only a handful of states reporting low flu activity or sporadic activity.