Clouds will increase across the Northern Rockies from the north
tonight, ahead of a slow moving low pressure circulation that will
bring rain to the area and clear much of the wildfire smoke over
Tuesday and Wednesday. Most model guidance currently favor
rainfall in the 0.50"+ along the Continental Divide, plus from the
Bitteroot Crest and points east (much of west central and
southwest Montana). For some locations, temperatures will cool
more than 30 degrees from today to Wednesday. There may be a
healthy dusting of snow for peaks over 8000 feet on Wednesday
morning. North winds are anticipated to gust to 30 mph on both
Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons.
Most global models suggest that a series of cool and marginally
wet storm systems will cycle over the Northern Rockies Thursday
through the middle of next week. Temperatures will remain a bit
cooler than the seasonal average during this time, however a
warming trend will slowly materialize by early next week. The most
encouraging news related to this change in pattern is much less
wildfire smoke in the air for most locations (away from active
fires).