Winter returns after holiday break

After unseasonably warm — though often windy — weather treated people in this part of Montana over the Thanksgiving holiday and weekend, snow was back this morning with cold weather again in the forecast.

Highs today were predicted in the teens with lows tonight in the single digits, with the rest of the week primarily expecting highs in the teens or single digits and lows again in the single digits and even below zero.

Highs are expected to be back in the 20s by Saturday and Sunday, although Saturday night’s low is still predicted to be mainly in the single digits and even near zero in some spots.

But Thanksgiving Day was relatively balmy compared to the previous, and upcoming, weather.

The National Weather Service reporting station at the Havre City-County Airport recorded highs of 47 Thursday and 51 Friday, warmer than the normal value for those dates of 39 degrees, though far below the records of 69 set Nov. 24, 2017, and 64 on Nov. 25, 1914.

It was a windy holiday, though, with the Havre station recording gusts as high as 43 degrees and other parts of the region likely seeing even higher.

Lows in Havre were recorded at 30 Thursday and 42 Friday, well-above the normal value of 18, and the warmth continued, with a high of 43 Saturday and 47 Sunday, with lows at 28 Saturday and 25 Sunday.

But that followed unseasonably bitter cold.

After unseasonably warm temperatures in the area for the start of November — Havre recorded a high of 66 Halloween Day, Oct. 31, and 65 Nov. 1 — snow fell and temperatures plummeted, with several days of sub-zero lows.

Havre hit a low of minus 18 Nov. 12, with the high that day of 13 degrees.

The National Weather Service recording station at the Havre-City County Airport had as of last week reported 5.4 inches of snow falling this month.

The temperatures started to rise the following week, with the last below-zero day recorded in Havre Saturday, Nov. 12, with a low of minus 13 degrees. The highs went up that week, with Havre breaking the freezing point with a high of 32 degrees Monday, Nov. 14, and staying in the 20s and 30s in the following days, with Havre hitting 42 degrees Nov. 15.

But snow the cold is back and a chance of snow is in the forecast for today through Tuesday morning.

The now predictions return Thursday through Friday, although Thursday is expected to be one of the warmer days, with highs in the upper teens to 20s.