Mack Days Anglers Warned as Arctic Front Rolls Into Northwest Montana
An arctic front moving through northwest Montana today, April 5, is expected to bring a bunch of snow and strong winds. In fact, the National Weather Service expects the winds to be so severe, they are issue a warning to anglers.
"We are actually expecting some really strong winds to develop on Flathead Lake," said NWS Meteorologist Dave Nobel. "They are having Mack Days right now, a fishing tournament and we've already been in contact with folks up there. The east winds are really going to start ramping up after 4:00 or 5:00 p.m., we just don't want any boaters to be caught off guard by a down slope wind coming off the Mission Mountains."
The strong winds made predicting snowfall patterns extremely difficult. Noble said some areas may get less than a half an inch of snow, while it could pile up over five inches less than fifteen miles away.
"The snowfall is actually going to taper off overnight towards daybreak Friday morning. The temperatures are actually going to be very cold in the teens and twenties with windy conditions. With the wind comes the fact that some areas may not see that much snowfall. It is going to moderate pretty quickly by tomorrow afternoon with temperatures getting back into the 30s and even 40s."
There Is some hope this may be a last hurrah for winter, Noble says temperatures may warm up into the 50s or maybe even the 60s by as early as next week.