Latest: Not Much Snow, But Turning Colder in Montana

No big dump of snow in Montana's weekend forecast, although the way things have been going, any amount may seem like a lot.

As we reported last week, the latest snow surveys showed most of the river basins with snowpack below normal, especially in those all-important mid-level elevations between 4,000 and 6,000 feet.

Snow earlier this week helped a little, and the forecast looks encouraging. NWS is expecting 2 to 5 inches in the mountains of Western Montana over the weekend, although many locations like Browning and the Rocky Mountain Front have 5% or less chance of accumulating snow. Southeast Montana's forecast is only light mountain snow.

National Weather Service meteorologist Trent Parker in Missoula says that could change if we get more moisture next week, with a push of Arctic air that could develop.

"You can see the further north and east you go, the higher the chances are east of the Divide," Parker explains. "Basically, a 90 to 100% chance of seeing those much colder temperatures. And then as you head across the Divide into places like the Northern Flathead, basically about a 70% chance to see that Arctic, and then as you head further south, a 50-50 shot here in Missoula and lesser mounts as you go towards the Bitterroot and into North Central Idaho."

     ❅ Currently, it appears that the major storm track off the Pacific will be directed south into the Sierra Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming.

Another Great Falls quake

Great Falls gets another aftershock in a series of earthquakes that have rattled the Electric City over the past month.

The latest quake measured 3.7 magnitude, and was reported around 6:30 pm on Thursday evening. As with the earlier quakes, this one's epicenter was underneath the Black Eagle area northeast of Great Falls.

This one was felt over a smaller area than the first quake, the magnitude 4.2 quake at the end of January, with people reporting they had felt the quake as far west as Fairfield and out to Cascade and Belt on the south and east.

Drone gets a drug dealer

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office has been able to catch an accused drug dealer they'd been pursuing for some time, thanks to a joint operation this week.

Sheriff Tom Grismrud says the joint operation, including ten officers from the U.S. Marshals service, resulted in the arrest of the dealer outside of Wicks, in the northern part of the county. He'd been wanted on warrants out of Lewis & Clark County. The task force used a drone to pinpoint his location before moving in.

Fort Peck man admits to murder

A Fort Peck man will be headed to prison after changing his plea to guilty for gunning down two people in a store parking lot in Wolf Point last fall.

Prosecutors had charged Ethan Murphy of Fort Peck with second-degree murder for the confrontation, which resulted in the death of one man and seriously injuring another person.

Murphy will face time in federal prison since he's a tribal member and the shooting took place on the reservation.

More Glacier construction coming

It's going to be another busy year for construction in Glacier National Park.

Park leaders announcing this week that several large infrastructure projects… mainly water systems… will keep some areas disrupted this season.

One of the largest projects is at Two Medicine, where work on the new water system resumes in April. That will mean the Two Medicine area will be closed through the spring, and again in the fall, with the road closed at the park boundary. Summer operations will take place, but the popular Two Medicine Campground will be closed this year.

     🚧 Some of that work will extend into 2028.