Weather officials are keeping a close eye on the next installment of wet and windy weather expected to batter the Northern Rockies this week. Another 2 to 5 inches of liquid precipitation could be added to the already saturated terrain of northwest and west-central Montana.
The National Weather Service issued rare December flood watches for these regions:
- Flathead Valley
- Mission Valley
- Kootenai-Cabinet
- Lower Clark Fork
- Potomac-Seeley Lake
- West Glacier
Those watches will continue through Thursday.
Western Montana received a heavy mixture of rain and snow earlier this week.
A second round of what experts call an "atmospheric river" is expected to arrive late Tuesday night and continue through at least Thursday. Another 2 to 5 inches of liquid precipitation could be added to the already saturated terrain of northwest and west-central Montana.
Unseasonably warm weather in the Billings area this week will result in daytime highs reaching near 60 degrees Fahrenheit by Thursday. An inbound Canadian cold front might rapidly plunge temperatures into the teens that night. Under those circumstances, any rain and snow would flash freeze on the roads, creating treacherous driving conditions.
