National Weather Service Calls for Valley Rain and Mountain Snow

A couple of days of sunshine have given way to a cold front heading into western and northwestern Montana, according to the National Weather Service Office in Missoula,

Meteorologist Luke Robinson said there could be significant rain in some areas around west central Montana.

“We are looking at some rain moving into the area starting mid week to the end of the week,” said Robinson. “This week we are looking at some pretty good soaking rains, particularly in southwest Montana and west central Montana. We will see the rivers and streams rising but right now we're not really anticipating any impacts from it.”

Robinson said the cold front will bring accompanying snow to the higher mountain areas.

“This system is moving in, it's going to be relatively cold, so we're actually looking at some accumulating snow in the mountains,” he said. “Those cooler temperatures will cut off all the hot mountain snow melt that we've had the past few days and most of the rise in the rivers and streams will be coming from mid to low level moisture coming into the area.”

Robinson said people who live in areas that usually flood in the spring may be nervous to see the river levels rising.

It could be more of just a nervous thing, right now,” he said. “We're looking at the cresting below flood stage, and that will be sometime Thursday or Friday. But right now we're not expecting any flooding at this at this point.”

Robinson said there is a winter weather watch that stretches from Eureka southward all the way to Helena, with rain and gusty winds expected in western Montana.