BOZEMAN – A mostly dry NW flow aloft produced a nice Sunday across Montana with most of the arctic air finally moving out of the state.
High pressure will continue to build over the region with a mostly dry weather pattern through the next 7 to 10 days. This blocking ridge will weaken most pacific storms as they move inland leading to a slight chance for snow Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning mostly over mountain ranges along the MT/ID state line.
Climate Prediction Center’s 6 to 10 day forecast has above to well above normal precipitation likely across the Pacific NW but only a slight chance for near normal precipitation for western Montana and below normal precipitation for central and eastern counties.
Temperature trends this week into next should remain near to slightly above normal across most of the country including Montana. Forecast highs will be running 5 to 10 degrees above normal on most days this week into next week.
This pattern change is welcomed news as arctic air has been lingering over most of Montana over the last 10 days. In fact, northern Montana’s hi-line region as seen below zero mornings 8 to 9 days out of the last 19 days.
Southern Montana was spared the extreme cold with only a few days falling below zero.
