New year begins with a winter mess in valley

Flathead Valley residents will ring in the new year wielding snow shovels and ice scrapers as 2020 is set to begin with a mishmash of winter weather across Northwest Montana.

An atmospheric river is expected to usher in heavy precipitation today, providing area mountains with feet of snow while valley locations will be left dealing with a sloppy mess on New Year’s Day.

According to the National Weather Service in Missoula, the freezing rain that made for a slick commute Tuesday morning in the Flathead will transition to snow by Wednesday morning. Some areas of the valley could see 2-4 inches of new snow before the precipitation changes over to a mix of sleet and rain.

Areas above 3,500 feet should see all snow, with a storm total of 1 to 3 feet possible in the higher terrain. The Mission and Swan mountains will see hefty amounts of precipitation, the Weather Service warned, with 20-35 inches of new snow predicted for those mountain ranges.

Travel will become challenging across Lolo, Lookout, Marias and Lost Trail passes with snowfall rates up to 2 inches per hour likely.

Total snow accumulations of 5 to 10 inches are possible for areas along U.S. 2 from Kila to Happy’s Inn and U.S. 93 Stryker to Whitefish. Commuters area advised to drive carefully through these corridors.

The Flathead Avalanche Center warned that the avalanche danger will rise this week as heavy snow falls on weak layers.

“Dense slabs on top of weak layers on top of hard sliding surfaces: an Oreo cookie of new avalanche danger,” forecaster Clancy Nelson wrote in the avalanche advisory Tuesday.

A second shot of widespread snow and valley rain is on tap for Thursday and Friday as another warm and moist weather system moves into the region. A windy cold front will affect the area by the weekend.