Snow Turning to Freezing Rain Impacting Driving in Missoula

With up to a foot of snow in the last 48 hours, Mother Nature is playing a cruel prank on drivers in Missoula and western Montana today with a good dose of freezing rain pouring over the snowfall.

Meteorologist Alex Lukenbeal of the Missoula National Weather Service office has more details.

“Yesterday we had several reports of five to six more inches of snow in Missoula, with higher amounts in the Bitterroot Valley, where we say twenty to ten inches of snow,” Lukenbeal said. “We didn’t really see clear reports in the mountains, but based on some measurements I’m looking at, I estimate between one and two feet of snow.”

Lukenbeal explained how conditions set the freezing rain scenario.

“There is little cold air on the surface and we have a warm front that has crept into the I-90 corridor, so we are seeing snowflakes melt in the rain and fall to the ground and then freeze to the ground. come into contact with those low temperatures. “He said.” Freezing rain will be here for a while in Missoula and in the northern Bitterroot Valley. So basically from Stevensville north to Missoula, we’ll see freezing rain until 11:00 am this morning. “

Lukenbeal said temperatures will begin to warm Friday afternoon.

“This afternoon, we will start to see moderate temperatures to almost freezing, and the precipitation will start to die off a bit,” he said. “So, I think the worst of all will be until the late hours of the morning. However, we could be seeing ice accumulations of a few tenths of an inch, so definitely enough to cause some power outages here and there in some isolated places, but more importantly, roads will really take a hit. if they are untreated. “

Temperatures will soar into the mid-30s over the weekend.