(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Brrr ... Montana mountains, some cities, to get snow this weekend – Daily Montanan [1] ['Keila Szpaller', 'More From Author', '- October'] Date: 2022-10-21 Put your flip flops away and get your skis waxed. A cold front is moving across Montana, and it’s going to drop snow in the mountains this weekend just as rifle season starts, according to the National Weather Service. Billings and Great Falls could see snow, and more than 12 inches could fall in a lot of the mountains in the Flathead area. “If people are going to be going out into the mountains, you probably should bring some snow chains if you’re going up high, maybe even a chainsaw just in case you encounter a tree fall,” said Davd Noble, meteorologist, of the forecast in the Flathead region. He said Kila and places in the Glacier National Park region could see some snow a little lower. Yellowstone National Park roads could get slippery and dangerous — see a warning from the park below — and Butte could see some flakes as well. “But ground temps are pretty warm down low, so it’s going to be either slushy or melting,” he said. The cooler temps might be a shock to the system, he said. Noble, based in Missoula, said this year brought the second warmest start to October in Kalispell, with the first warmest in 1988, and a warm start in Missoula as well. “I had the best tomato season I ever had,” he said. Highs are expected to be in the upper 40s in the next few days and generally through the middle of next week in the Kalispell and Missoula areas, he said. Then, the temps could hit the 50-degree mark toward next weekend, but it’s still hard to tell. “This is the time of year where the weather patterns can really change on a dime, so long-range forecasts sometimes you’ve got to take with a grain of salt until the jet stream becomes a little more set in place,” Noble said. Friday afternoon, the wind kicked up in Missoula and the sky started spitting rain after a night where people were sitting outside without heavy winter coats. A large early-season #winterstorm will impact the West this weekend, especially in high-elevation areas. These images display the probability of the 72-hour snow totals exceeding 4" or 8". For winter weather safety tips, visit: https://t.co/fofroBwuzF pic.twitter.com/R88uRIFeJr — NWS Weather Prediction Center (@NWSWPC) October 21, 2022 The Great Falls area also might see snow in the mountains Friday and Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. With a push of colder air later on Saturday, some 4 inches to 6 inches might fall in the city and surrounding areas, said meteorologist Austin McDowell. The highs will be in the lower 40s Saturday and mid to upper 20s overnight, cooling off some into Monday, McDowell said. Then, the air will be unsettled for a bit next week, and it’s a good bet temps will hang out in the mid 40s. Billings will be brisk too, with Sunday being the best chance for a dusting in the city itself, said meteorologist Julie Arthur. The prediction follows a spell of highs in the 60s and even 70 degrees in the area. “The mountains are going to get some snow,” Arthur said. “That we’re very confident about. That’s going to start probably late (Friday) afternoon, and that’ll continue tonight and through Saturday, and then it might taper off.” She also said there’s a winter storm warning for the Absaroka Beartooth Mountains and for the Crazy Mountains, and a winter storm watch for the northeast Bighorn Mountains. Generally, the air will be unsettled for the next few days. There’s a 75 percent chance the season shapes up to bring another La Niña, and it would be the third year in a row for what meteorologists are calling a “triple dip,” Noble said. That can mean more cloud cover and chance for precipitation and a mild winter, as he said the last two winters have been. It’s hard to make predictions because the last La Niña cycles that came back-to-back were just two years in a row, 2000 and 2001, and then 1975 and 1976, he said. But milder doesn’t always mean less snow, he said, and it can mean the opposite. “It seems promising for people who like to ski,” he said. In 2000 and 2001, he said roughly 50 to 60 inches fell in the Flathead Valley. Last year, Missoula and Kalispell both got 38 inches of snowfall from November through March, he said. For the triple dip, there’s a 48 percent chance of snowfall being above average in Missoula and 13 percent chance of being below average. “The 38 inches at the (Kalispell) airport was actually a little bit below average, but when you look at the whole picture, the whole region, there was a lot of snowfall,” Noble said. The numbers sat at only 100 percent of normal through the end of February, but then in the springtime, a lot of snow pushed up the numbers, he said. The cooler weather affected agriculture in the area. “The cherry orchards got hit a little bit because the bees were delayed because it was so cold,” Noble said. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2022/10/21/brrr-montana-mountains-some-cities-to-get-snow-this-weekend/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/