Blast of snow and arctic air leads into frigid weekend

Winterlike conditions were forecast to last through the weekend in western Montana, according to National Weather Service Hydrologist Ray Nickless, but snowfall was expected to taper off through the end of this week. 

NWS forecasts on Wednesday predicted 1–2 inches more of snow around Missoula through noon Thursday, less than an inch in northwest Montana, 2–3 inches more snow in Hamilton and around Drummond, and up to 4–6 inches around Butte and its surrounding mountains. 

“Looks like we’re in a bit of a break here this afternoon, most of the current snowstorm is moving out of the area,” he said Wednesday morning. “But it looks like tonight we might get another shot in this area around Missoula and the Bitterroot — doesn’t look as intense as the one that came through last night.” 

After that, he said, NWS predicts “just little snow showers across the area, not as intense” on Thursday and Friday, tapering off into the weekend. The weekend will be “mostly sunny,” he said, but with bone-chilling overnight lows into the low teens and single-digits. Butte could see a low of 3 degrees this weekend, he noted. 

Although the weekend will be cold, Nickless said, “the precipitation percentages are a lot lower, even starting tomorrow.” 

And by next week, according to NWS, Missoula could see more normal mid-autumn temps in the 40s with sunny conditions and cold nights. 

But such seasonable weather seemed a world apart from Wednesday morning in Missoula, as blustery fall winds blew yellow leaves across ice and snow that frosted the landscape under gray skies.

A weather station on Stuart Mountain, north of Missoula at about 7,400 feet elevation, reported 5 inches of snow on Wednesday morning, up from the 2 inches at the station before the overnight storm. Lolo Pass reported 4 inches, according to a weather station there at 5,240 feet.

“We’ve gotten snow across the area,” Nickless said. “Some areas got hit harder than others. That’s kind of typical with most storms that come through in the winter.

“Some of the harder-hit areas, well the Bitterroot got hit pretty hard, just north of Lolo to down through the Bitterroot (Valley),” with 3–4 inches, he continued. “It looks like the majority of the area got some snow of some sort.”

Philipsburg, Fairmont Hot Springs and areas toward Butte reported up to 6 inches of snow, he said, noting that the agency was still compiling data on snowfall across the region. 

Great Divide Ski Area north of Helena reported 18 inches of snow on Wednesday morning with more on the way, according to a social media post. 

The snow also caused treacherous road conditions around the state. Nickless said a portion of Interstate 90 around Homestake Pass east of Butte was blocked Wednesday morning because of a weather-related traffic incident. And in Facebook groups for communities around Missoula, residents warned neighbors about slick roads and multiple vehicle slide-offs. 

Around noon Wednesday, Montana Department of Transportation’s interactive road condition map reported a mixture of snow and ice on all major roadways around the state.