Latest: Montana Still on Track for Cold, Wet Winter

If you've been okay with the early "winter" weather so far, with its combination of colder days and early snow in the mountains, you may end up pretty content with how the Montana winter is shaping up.

And long-range forecasters with the National Weather Service confirm the colder-than-normal/wetter-than-normal outlook stays true for the crux of winter from December through March, depending on your location. Just don't expect a record-breaker.

That's contained in the last important outlook for winter as we transition to the heart of another Montana winter.

La Niña Watch continues

As I reported earlier, the expected transition to a La Niña weather pattern from the South Pacific is taking its sweet time to develop. The National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center said last week that the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) neutral conditions are still in place. And while La Niña is still expected to develop in December, and last into March, the climatologists note that when the current develops in the fall, it tends to be a "weak short duration event."

READ MORE: The Montana impacts from a weak La Niña

There's still Montana winter to come

Having said that, the latest 90-day outlook still shows the Northern Rockies, and especially areas west of the Divide with above-average precipitation through March. That zone extends along the Montana-Idaho border into Central and Southwest Montana.

Temperatures are another matter, and the forecast reflects exactly what we've been seeing so far through November. Below-average temperatures will extend out of Washington State across Northern Idaho on a line near Missoula, extending across Montana. That's been reflected perfectly the past two weeks, with heavy snows at higher elevations along the border, and north into the Glacier region.

But other areas like the Bitterroot, Southwest Montana, and the southeast are only "leaning below normal" temps. And that likely means heavier snows could be contained to the higher elevations, which at least is good for skiing and next summer's water supplies.