BOZEMAN – Blocking High-pressure is sitting over most of Montana Friday afternoon producing a dry weather pattern and near normal temperatures. This ridge will hold into Saturday but will begin to break down by Sunday.
The biggest weather concerns this weekend is increasing surface winds. Along the Rocky mountain front and adjacent plains surface wind gusts will increase sharply Saturday and by Saturday afternoon gusts could reach or exceed 60 mph. Another area of concern will be in the Upper Yellowstone region, Livingston to Big Timber to Harlowton wind gusts could reach or exceed 60 mph.
SW Montana surface winds will also increase by Saturday afternoon and in high wind prone areas like Ennis, Whitehall, Three Forks, and Townsend look for gusts to reach 30 to 50 mph Saturday evening into Sunday.
CAT – GRIZ FOOTBALL FORECAST
The overall weather pattern is dry and mild for the game. Great tailgating weather in the morning with temperatures in the 20s but by kickoff temperatures should move up into the 30s and by halftime reaching the lower 40s.
Surface winds during the game should be around 5 to 15 mph but could begin to increase by late afternoon 10 to 20 mph.
NEXT WEEK TRAVEL CONCERNS
A pattern change is still on track to impact Montana and most of the central and northern Rockies. High pressure will give way to a stalled deep trough of Low-pressure. Snow, wind, and cold will begin Monday and continue, off-and-on, throughout the week into the following weekend.
Be prepared for winter-like road conditions and there will likely be a variety of winter weather highlights issued by the National Weather Service.
It’s still too early for detailed weather forecasts on possible snow totals. Updates on how big of an impact will be coming up in the next couple of days as we get updated forecast model runs to analyze. Check back often here for updates and of course on our nightly next casts and STORMTracker weather mobile apps.
