Snow expected to bring travel impacts Tuesday night
A truck makes its way up North Fork Road in Columbia Falls into snow scenes mixed with fall color on Monday afternoon, Oct. 10, in Columbia Falls. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)
Northwest Montana will likely see its first dose of winter weather in valley locations this week.
Snow is expected to begin falling Tuesday night, with up to 3 inches accumulating in the Flathead Valley by Wednesday morning, according to the National Weather Service in Missoula.
Snow levels were expected to drop to around 2,500 feet Monday evening as a cold front moved into the area, bringing minor accumulations. The National Weather Service said the cold air will continue to spill across the divide through Badrock Canyon into the Flathead Valley Tuesday night into Wednesday.
“Several inches of snowfall for the Flathead and Mission valleys, coupled with easterly winds, will cause travel impacts as roadways potentially become snow covered,” the Weather Service warned.
Wet roads could become icy once again Wednesday as cold air settles into areas west of the Continental Divide.
Mountain locations around Glacier National Park could pick up more than a foot of new snow by Wednesday. A weather station at Flattop Mountain in Glacier Park showed 18 inches of snow on the ground Monday morning. About 15 inches of snow was reported on the summit of Big Mountain Monday morning.