Dangerously strong winds are expected tonight and tomorrow as a strong cold front passes through our area. A High Wind Warning is in effect for western Montana until 2am/8am Tuesday and for central Montana until 12pm/3pm Tuesday. A High Wind Warning is also in effect for eastern Montana from 12am/5am until 6pm/11pm on Tuesday. Sustained wind speeds are going to be between 30 and 55 mph, and wind gusts up to 90 mph are going to be possible at times. Some isolated wind gusts may even exceed 100 mph along the Rocky Mountain Front.
These strong winds are going to create difficult travel conditions for high-profile vehicles and for vehicles pulling trailers, especially on north-south oriented roads as the wind is generally going to be coming out of the west and southwest. These strong winds may also move loose debris, damage property, and cause power outages. If you are going to be outside or traveling at all tonight or tomorrow, please use extreme caution and give yourself plenty of extra time to get to where you need to go.
As we head into tomorrow afternoon and evening, the wind is gradually going to start to weaken from west to east within central Montana. In eastern Montana, it is going to continue to be very windy. For tomorrow night, the wind will gradually weaken for everyone from west to east.
Along with the strong winds, this cold front is also going to bring some much colder air into our area. High temperatures today were in the 60s in a lot of locations, and this was after a mild morning as lows were only in the 40s and 50s. For tonight, lows are going to be closer to average for this time of year as lows are going to be in the 30s. Tomorrow’s high temperatures are then going to be approximately 20 to 30 degrees colder than today’s high temperatures were as highs are only going to be in the mid to upper 30s and low 40s. Also, thanks to the wind, it is going to feel a lot colder tonight and tomorrow than what the actual air temperature is as it is going to feel like it is only in the teens and 20s, so make sure you bundle up if you are going to be outside at all!
Not a lot of precipitation is expected with this cold front, but there are going to be some scattered rain and snow showers around tonight, generally west, along, and just east of the Continental Divide. We are then going to have a chance to see some snow showers tomorrow and tomorrow night, especially in the mountains. In locations that do see some snow, light snow accumulations are possible. Snow squalls are also possible tonight and tomorrow, especially in the higher elevations.
Wednesday is going to be a pretty nice day of weather as we are going to have mostly sunny skies and significantly less wind (sustained wind speeds between 5 and 20 mph). It is also going to be chilly on Wednesday as highs are only going to be in the mid to upper 30s and low 40s, but with less wind and more sunshine, it is actually going to feel really nice outside.
On Thursday, we are going to have mostly cloudy skies with a slight chance of snow and rain showers. We are then going to have partly to mostly cloudy skies on Friday with some scattered valley rain and mountain rain/snow showers around, generally west, along, and just east of the Continental Divide, as a cold front begins to approach our area. The temperatures are also going to warm up some over these two days as highs on Thursday are going to be in the low to mid 40s, and highs on Friday are going to be in the mid to upper 40s and low to mid 50s. The wind is also going to pick up over these two days as it is going to be breezy (sustained wind speeds between 10 and 20 mph) on Thursday and windy (sustained wind speeds between 15 and 30 mph) on Friday.
For this weekend, we are going to have partly to mostly cloudy skies with a few isolated snow and rain showers around, especially in the mountains. It is also going to be chilly and breezy this weekend as highs are going to be in the 40s and sustained wind speeds are going to be between 10 and 20 mph.
