Snow is in the forecast for Flathead

Flathead Valley residents won’t have to dream about a white Christmas this year. They will be experiencing one.

The National Weather Service is forecasting a 100 percent chance of snow on Christmas Eve for the Kalispell and West Glacier areas, with up to 3 inches likely. Snow also is very likely on Christmas Day.

“It looks like it will be a white Christmas,” National Weather Service hydrologist Ray Nickless said.

There are two periods of potentially challenging weather ahead for Christmas travelers, according to the Weather Service. The first system will move southeastward into Northwest Montana and north-central Idaho today. 

Rain is expected to change to snow for valleys overnight into Christmas Day, but farther north, the West Glacier area will see a 100 percent chance of snow all day today.

A second system is expected to move through during the weekend. Temperatures will be lower for this second system, so more widespread snow is expected on Saturday and Sunday.

Record snowfall on Christmas Eve in Kalispell was 5.3 inches in 1998; the record snowfall for Christmas Day was 5.5 inches in 2008.

A low of 23 degrees is forecast for Christmas Eve in the Kalispell area. Christmas Day will have a high of 27 degrees and low of 15 degrees.

The coldest Christmas Eve on record for Kalispell was minus 30 degrees in 1983; the high that day was minus 11.

Christmas Day in 1983 holds the record cold slot at a minus 21.

Nickless said the Kalispell area is at 144 percent of average for total precipitation since Oct. 1. Gauges at Glacier Park International Airport have measured 5.07 inches of precipitation since then, compared to the normal 3.53 inches.

 So far this month 6.6 inches of snow have fallen, with 10.3 inches of snow recorded in November.