West of the Continental Divide: 

Below: Cold temps have kept surface conditions to a premium at Whitefish (below), and pretty much at Lookout Pass, Snowbowl, and Lost Trail as well. (Image/Rhyan McLaury WMR) 

Cool temps and unsettled skies will be common across the region Monday through Thursday with daily chances of trace accumulations to a few inches under an active NW flow aloft. NW Montana, aka Whitefish, and eastern locations such as Discovery will be in the best positions to utilize the active moisture flow from east of the Divide. This type of pattern is hard to nail down specifics on snowfall but expect mid-winter temps, generally cloudy skies, and isolated snow showers to be the norm. 
 
East of the Continental Divide:

Below: Big Sky under flurries late Sunday afternoon. This will be a common sight over the next several days. Big Sky will be a good bet this week.

Same story as above but with a much more active flow of northerly moisture moving east of the Continental Divide Monday through Thursday. As you would expect with a NW flow coming out of Canada, cold temps, and unsettled skies will be the story with daily light accumulations likely across SW Montana at Big Sky, Bridger Bowl, as well as to the east at Red Lodge. Showdown in the Little Belts will also be accumulating light daily amounts and could have another powder Wednesday when they reopen 1/25. Tuesday and Wednesday look best for some boot-top pow at Big Sky and Bridger with daily accumulations of 3 – 5” likely. Cold, but not frigid temps across the region.  

Below: NBM (National Blend of Models)  animation for snowfall over the Treasure State for the coming week looks nice under an active NW flow aloft but really looks to amp up by next weekend as arctic air potentially pushes into the Northern Rockies.  

 

West and East of the Continental Divide: 

A large ridge of high-pressure across the west coast of the PNW extending north into the Gulf of Alaska is likely to draw in a rather large cold front of arctic air out of Canada beginning Friday and extending into next weekend. This strong cold front will interact with incoming Pacific moisture through next weekend and looks to have strong possibilities of bringing in our best chance in a while for significant snowfall across the Northern Rockies. 

Below: CPC’s 8 – 14 day forecasts keep cold temps (arctic incursion) and slightly above normal chances of measurable snowfall across the Northern Rockies. 

Thanks for tuning in, my next update will be on Tuesday, 1/24.  

Powder Out – 

Bob