Winter hits Montana for real

Old Man Winter blanketed the state with white Sunday night and this morning, with snow falling throughout Montana and a sharp drop in temperatures - with no end in sight for the short term.

In Havre, the temperature dropped from a high of 44 Sunday to a low of 5 degrees, with a few inches of snow accumulating in town and the precipitation value recorded at the National Weather Service recording station at the Havre City-County Airport at .3 inches.

The temperatures - and precipitation - dropped all around the state, with highs in the 50s and 60s plummetting into the single digits and teens. Great Falls recorded the state low temperature at 1 degree fahrenheit.

Long-range forecasts for the winter have been mixed, with farmers almanacs predicting cold, snowy weather over the next few months in Montana, while Weather Service and The Weather Channel are predicting mildly El Niño-like weather, with most of the state expected to average above the normal temperatures and below the normal precipitation.

That does not mean cold snowy weather will not occur even if the mild winter predictions are correct - those forecasts are for the average through the winter.

But the next few days are expected to remain cold, with a slight chance of more snow in the forecast for the next few days.

The Weather Service forecast for Havre is for a 20 percent chance of snow through tonight and Tuesday, with temperatures dropping even further.

The low for tonight is predicted at a frigid -7 degrees, with a high Tuesday of 7 above zero and a low Tuesday night closing in on -20, with the Weather Service forecast predicting -17.

Though Weather Channel is predicting slightly warmer temperatures, Weather Service is forecasting highs in the single digits thorugh the week with lows below zero then highs into teens and 20s for the weekend with the low for Saturday night predicted at 4 degrees above zero.