Deep-freeze weather to hit again

After another short burst of warmth, north-central Montana is expected to again plunge into frigid winter temperatures, with some light snow expected along with the cold weather.

This weather pattern is putting much of the rest of the state into winter or blizzard warnings, with storms expected to spread from California to the East Coast.

In north-central Montana, after lows dropped below zero Saturday night through Tuesday night, Wednesday’s high hit above freezing again.

Now, with storms about to blanket the country, the lows here are expected to drop below zero tonight through early next week. Highs below zero are predicted early in the weekend along with some lows lower than minus 20 — and a bitter wind chill Friday expected to be near 50 below zero.

That with light snow predicted in north-central Montana starting tonight through early next week, with National Weather Service forecasts saying a half-inch to about an inch could accumulate each day through Saturday.

But more-severe weather is predicted farther south, east and west.

While a wind chill advisory is in effect from Toole County through Blaine County and further east, more-severe warnings are in effect in other parts of Montana.

A winter weather advisory predicting heavy and blowing snow joins a wind chill watch for Chouteau County stretching in a curve to the Rocky Mountain Front in Glacier County, while a winter storm watch stretches to the south of that from the Rocky Mountain Front to Rosebud County.

West of the divide, a blizzard warning is in effect from parts of Ravalli County north through Missoula to Kalispell. A winter storm watch is in effect for much of the rest of that part of Montana.

The late-week and weekend weather also is expected to bring heavy rain and mountain snow starting in California and spreading west and north, which Weather Channel says will be a source of the snow in Montana and Wyoming.

But the major weekend storm, which Weather Channel has named “Titan,” is expected to bring more snow from the mountains of Montana across the country to the East Coast, laying ice and snow along the way. The high pressure will keep the northern part of the route from seeing as much snow — including the predicted snowfall in the forecasts from Liberty County to Blaine County — while Montana’s mountains could see much more.

Sunday through Tuesday, the storm is expected to bring high levels of snow and ice in a swath from Nebraska and Kansas to the east coast, with the possibility of locations seeing six inches to a foot or more of new snow.