The roads may be clear now, but forecasters are expecting some extreme weather for travelers in Western Montana this Thanksgiving weekend.

"If they go over the passes, when they leave it's going to be sunny and nice and mild, and then when they come back it's going to be a totally different story," said National Weather Service Meteorologist Leeann Allegretto. Especially if they're traveling over passes that connect the Montana and Idaho border like Lookout Pass and Lolo Pass. We're expecting some pretty nasty conditions, especially Sunday night, in the form of snow, low visibility and quickly changing road conditions."

Allegretto said that those concerned should try to get home earlier in the day on Sunday as the snowfall is expected to intensify in the afternoon.

"We are expecting quite a bit of cold air," Allegretto said. "There will be the initial cold frontal passage that happens on Monday, which will cause snow in the valleys, but then we're expecting a very cold air mass to come down out of Canada, which will drop temperatures even further. Look for daytime highs ranging in the low teens to single digits in some places, and then overnight lows in the negative."

Although meteorologists at the National Weather Service agreed that snow was coming, they were still unsure of exactly how much western Montana could expect to see.

 

 

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