Bit of snow hits but warm weekend expected

An unexpected snowstorm hit this part of the Hi-Line Wednesday, leaving some white on the ground from about Inverness to Chinook or a bit past, but it is expected to be gone by this afternoon with a slow warming trend bringing temperatures near or higher than 60 by Sunday before the next possible snowstorm early next week.

Some heavy snow even fell in the afternoon, although with temperatures in the mid-40s none of that stuck.

But the temperatures dropped a bit and more snow fell over the weekend, leaving the ground white by morning.

"It was pretty interesting," National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Brusda in Great Falls said this morning.

Brusda said the morning clouds were expected to clear by mid-afternoon, with the snow likely melting by late afternoon.

He said the Havre recording station, which is located at the Havre City-County Airport, recorded six-tenths of an inch of new snow.

And the storm went a bit south of the Hi-Line, with Brusda saying about six-tenths also was recorded at Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation in the Bear Paw Mountains.

But the storm petered out east of the Chinook region, with Brusch saying Hays only received a trace of snow.

He said a slow warming trend is expected over the next few days, with highs near 60 or warmer expected by Sunday.

Then temperatures will likely drop a bit, with more precipitation expected Monday evening or Tuesday morning, with highs Monday predicted in the 50s and Tuesday in the 40s as a cold front moves in.

Brusday said the precipitation is expected in the form of a bit more snow, as it is expected to fall in the evening and overnight.

If it falls just a few hours earlier than expected, it likely will be rain, he added.

"A difference of four hours can make a big difference," Brusda said.

Moisture situation

The snow after midnight was not listed in the climate data for Havre in today's listing, but the precipitation level has turned around considerably in the last month.

March, through midnight, only listed three-hundredths of an inch of precipitation for Havre, but the total from Jan. 1 was .83 inches and from the start of the water year, Oct. 1, was at 2.4 inches.

That puts Havre above the norm, with that value for March 10 from Jan. 1 .7 inches and from Oct. 1 2.4 inches.

That turns around a remarkably dry winter, with this area receiving little to no snow or rain in December and January.

But snow came early.

Havre saw 8.9 inches of snow and .84 inches of precipitation in October, with the norms 2 inches and .58 inches, respectively. In November it received another 10.1 inches of snow and .65 inches of precipitation, with norms of 5.3 inches for snow and .43 inches for precipitation.

Chinook saw 6.6 inches of snow and .92 inches of precipitation in October, with norms of 1.1 inches of snow and .71 inches of precipitation, and 21 inches of snow and 1.42 inches of precipitation in November, with norms of 5.5 inches of snow and .55 inches of precipitation.

The Weather Service chart reported Chester received no October snow - the norm was missing on the chart - but .96 inches of precipitation compared to a norm of .55 inches, and 22.3 inches of snow and 1.96 inches of precipitation in November. Normal snowfall for that month was missing but the norm for precipitation was .38 inches.

Big Sandy saw 1.03 inches of October precipitation with a norm of .81 inches and in October and .61 inches of precipitation with a norm of .51 inches in November. Snowfall was not listed on those tables.

Information was not available on Harlem for daily data by month in 2020, or this year.

But then things dried up and warmed up, with temperatures often in the 40s and 50s in December or warmer and Weather Service reporting Big Sandy received no precipitation at all, with a norm of .5 inches, and Chester seeing 1.6 inches of snow, norm not listed, and .16 inches of precipitation compared to a norm of .48 inches.

Havre received .7 inches of snow, norm 7.4 inches, and .08 inches of precipitation, norm .4 inches, in December while Chinook received 1 inch of snow, norm 5.8 inches, and .05 inches of precipitation, norm .48 inches.

That continued in January. Most of the data for Big Sandy and Chester was missing, but Chinook is listed as having no precipitation, with norms of 6.4 inches for snow and .49 inches of precipitation, while Havre is listed as receiving traces of snow on a few days for no measurable accumulation and .02 inches of precipitation, compared to norms of 7.1 inches of snow and .33 inches of precipitation.

That all turned around in February.

The Havre area is listed as having .81 inches of precipitation that month, with a norm of .28 inches, and 10.2 inches of snow, with the norm 5.8 inches.

Chinook was listed with less snow, 3.5 inches for the month compared to a norm of 6.2 inches, but had .54 inches of precipitation with a norm of .4 inches.

Data for Chester and Big Sandy in February was not available.