Snow expected today, cooler temps this week

The weather forecast again calls for snow today, although not likely to be like the record-setting snowfall two weeks ago.

National Weather Service has a winter weather advisory on for a large area of Montana from the Rocky Mountain Front to the North Dakota border, and stretching into western South Dakota, including Blaine and Hill counties and the Bear Paw Mountains.

Easterm Teton and Liberty counties were not under the advisory as of 9:45 this morning, although snow was in the forecast in those counties as well, with up to an inch of new accumulation possible.

The advisory for Hill and Blaine counties predicts 1 inch to 3 inches of new snow through tonight, with the advisory in effect until 11 p.m.

The advisory warns people to plan on slippery road conditions, saying patchy blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility.

The combination of falling snow and gusty winds will result in some blowing and drifting snow, the advisory added.

Highs in the area today were predicted to hit the teens or lower 20s, with lows tonight in the single digits to the teens.

Highs through Friday are expected to be in the teens or lower 20s, with lows in the single digits above zero to the teens.

On-and-off winter

This week’s wintry weather continues an up-and-down winter with heavy snow and near-40-below-zero temperatures mixed with warm periods where highs in this area hit the 40s.

December was extremely wintry, most of the time, following a cold-then-warm November.

November started unseasonably warm for a couple of days, with highs in the 60s for Haloween and Nov. 1. Then the temperature — and snow — fell heavily.

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

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.

And snow fell as well, with National Weather Service reporting nearly 6 inches at the recoding station at the Havre City-County Airport for November.

But people had a brief warmup for the Thanksgiving holiday, with the reporting station at the Havre City-County Airport recording highs of 47 Thanksgiving Day and 51 the next day, warmer than the normal value for those dates of 39 degrees.

Then it got cold again the next week with snow returning, although it hit near freezing by the end of the first week of December. But cold and snow continued through the month with another break for the holidays.

Havre was the coldest spot in the state Dec. 23 at minus 38 — although the record, minus 45, was set in 1989 — but then the next day went from 9 below zero that morning to 45 degrees Christmas Day.

But more cold and snow fell the next week, until another brief warm spell hit for the New Year holiday.

But the snow definitely fell. Havre saw 32.7 inches of snow in December, more than four times the normal amount of 7.9 inches for the month, and possibly a new record for Havre.

Then it warmed up again the second week of January, but freezing rains around Jan. 10 shut down much of the region.

Then it turned cold again the next week. After Havre hit 42 degrees Jan. Jan. 14 and 41 degrees Jan. 15, the temperature hit minus 29 just before midnight that night.

The snow and warm-then-cold weather also created serious driving problems in local towns, as well as temporary dangerous highway conditions and even some highways closed to traffic at times.

But it warmed up in late January and early February, pretty well clearing off the accumulated snow by Feb. 13.

Then the temperatures again dropped and snow fell Feb. 20-22, with Havre seeing a record 4.4 inches Feb. 22 and Weather Service reporting 6.4 inches for the month at the airport, although anecdotal information indicates it actually may have been more in Havre proper.

Moisture and drought

That has helped with a massive moisture deficit in the area — Havre was sort some 9 inches of normal precipitation from Jan. 1, 2020, to Dec. 19, 2022 — with Havre reporting .85 inches of precipitation for the calendar year as of Sunday, just short of the normal .87 inches for the month.

And for the water year, measured from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, Havre has 4.39 inches compared to the normal value of 2.51 inches.

While as of March 2, a patch of severe drought still was listed on the U.S. Drought Monitor over Blaine County and stretching into Hill, Phillips and Fergus counties, the drought in the area has gotten milder, with a prediction of drought remaining in this region but improving and much of the state listed as drought removal likely.