Cold today, more snow in forecast

Two weeks into spring, north-central Montana felt and looked more like the middle of a bitter winter today, with more snow expected through the weekend.

After snowing most of the day — and putting Havre closer to setting a new record for snowfall in one year — the skies cleared and temperatures dropped overnight.

In Havre, the temperature was reported to hit 8 below zero right before midnight, with the temperatures expected to climb back up to the upper 20s today and drop back into the teens tonight, with no snow expected today.

But the snow that fell Monday, 3.5 inches reported by the National Weather Service in Havre, covered back up areas where the deep snowpack had melted off, and snow is back in the forecast Wednesday through the weekend.

Weather Service reports a chance of snow Wednesday night through Saturday, with snow likely Saturday night and a chance of more snow Sunday and Sunday night.

The Weather Service forecast calls for highs below freezing through most of the region Thursday through Saturday, with temperatures gradually climbing back Sunday and Monday to the mid- to upper-30s.

The official data on the Weather Service site was missing the snow received, but with a spotter reporting 3 inches plus a half inch received by 6 a.m., the total in Havre for the year comes to 87.1 inches, just a few inches short of the record snowfall for the year, with the record set in 1981 at 93.4 inches.