Weather Service ‘The Coldest We’ve Seen so Far This Year’

The National Weather Service is predicting very cold temperatures to move into western Montana this weekend into early next week.

Meteorologist Brian Colin said Wednesday and Thursday will be pleasant, however, a Canadian cold front will be making its way into the area by the weekend.

“For most people there will be rain showers on Saturday, but for many in northwest Montana, and down into Missoula and Butte, it will transition into snow, but the big thing is, this will be the coldest weather we’ve seen so far this season by Tuesday. On Tuesday we’ll struggle to get to freezing, and the low temperatures could be in the single digits in the high valleys and the teens down into valleys like Missoula, the Bitterroot and the Flathead.”

Conlin said the crowd at Washington Grizzly Stadium needs to dress warm on Saturday for the game against Eastern Washington, due to rapidly cooling temperatures and that Hellgate Canyon wind out of the east.

“Temperatures should be starting to drop into the 30’s, and there will definitely be an east to northeast wind at that point,” he said. “The temperatures will not be record breaking, but it will be cold. For this week the record low was 13 degrees, but we’ll probably be a little warmer that that. Butte, for instance, will be at nine degrees for a low on Saturday and three for a low on Sunday, so the colder temperatures will be somewhat significant.”