Montana Daily Snow
By Bob Ambrose, Forecaster Posted 7 years ago January 24, 2017
Northwest Flow until Thursday – then High Pressure Returns…
Summary
Even though we are north of all the big weather action, some Montana resorts continue to consistently pick up snow. Whitefish has totaled up 6” since Sunday, Big Sky around 5” and Lost Trail and Lookout around 4”. This has been the norm over the last week and a half so the skiing is excellent at these and most resorts in Montana. There is still fresh powder out there to be skied! For the short-term, a Northwest flow will bring in light snow showers West of the Divide today through Thursday with perhaps another 2-4” by Thursday morning. East of the Divide, Big Sky has the best chance of an inch or two into Thursday. After Thursday high pressure builds and looks to be with us into early next week. Break out the sunscreen - it could be worse!
Short Term Forecast
West of the Divide:
Northwest flow will usher in increasing cloud cover today with off and on snow showers through Thursday morning. Best chances for accumulating snow are looking to be this evening into Wednesday. The pass areas on the Idaho border (Lookout and Lost Trail) have the best chance for maybe around 2-4” in total possible by Thurs morning. Besides cloudy and showery, winds will be light through the period with mountain high temperatures just around average in the low 20’s.
East of the Divide:
The Northwest flow I spoke about above will just barely brush Southwestern Montana with perhaps a few snow showers into Thursday. The main affect will be generally cloudy skies with an embedded snow shower or two – with optimistically 1-2” by Thursday at Big Sky. Regional daytime mountain temps will be in the lower to mid-teens with light winds around 5-10mph in the alpine areas. Red Lodge will see snow showers today (2-3" if you include last night's snow) with cloudy skies through the period. All other areas will see cloudy skies, a few snow showers with little if any accumulations.
Extended Forecast
West of the Divide:
Wish I had better news for those of us who crave storms but starting Thursday afternoon an upper level high-pressure ridge starts to build and will unfortunately dominate the region's weather into early next week. Expect sunny skies with a few clouds and slowly warming temperatures to above average into the weekend. Winds will be light through the period.
East of the Divide:
Not much to report here unfortunately. Its been a Neutral/La Nina Winter that normally hits the Northern Rockies hard but the jet stream has been driving "our" storms to the south of our region. Thurs – Sunday a very large high-pressure ridge parks itself over the Northwest and will deliver a weather package of clear/partly cloudy skies, low wind, and generally above average temps all across the region. Monday into the middle of next week may see an Alberta clipper that may give the central Mountains and the Rocky Mountain Front some light snow. Southwest Montana though will continue to see sunny skies through the extended period.
Montana Snowpack %'s MAP by Region - Updated January 24...
Announcements
Backcountry Reports:
West Central Montana Avalanche Center
Flathead Avalanche Center
http://www.flatheadavalanche.org
Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center:
Geography Key :
WEST of the Continental Divide
Montana Snowbowl, Discovery Basin, Lost Trail Powder Mountain, Lookout Pass, Whitefish Mountain Resort, Blacktail Mountain, Turner Mountain, Marias Pass/Glacier NP, Jewel Basin
EAST of the Continental Divide
Big Sky Resort, Bridger Bowl, Red Lodge, Maverick Mountain, Great Divide, Showdown, Teton Pass