Weather In Missoula and Beyond

Montana’s Warm Fall May Turn Windy and Cold

By Robert Struckman, 11-19-08

	A warm fall night in Missoula. Photo by Graham Coppes.

The problem with unseasonable weather in Montana is the temperature is probably plummeting—or rising—even as you note how odd it is.

So far this fall, the weather has been warmer than usual, said meteorologist Corby Dickerson of the National Weather Service‘s Missoula office.

But the warmth won’t last.

The “normal” high temperature for November 19 is 38 degrees Fahrenheit. The low is 23 degrees. Wednesday’s high was 42 degrees. Tonight’s predicted low is 30.

But averages hide extremes. The low record for the day was recorded in 1900, at minus 4 degrees. The record high was 65 degrees, set in 1897.

Here’s what’s happening with the weather.

“We’ve had a (warm) high-pressure ridge right on top of us,” Dickerson explained, but a deep and cold low-pressure front has been approaching from Canada and the central Northern Plains states. The front will slide under the warmer air on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, producing gusty winds and bringing colder temperatures.

Another trough of weather from the west will cloak Missoula area valleys with an insulating layer of clouds, which will keep our temperatures from dropping dramatically. The clouds could drop an inch of snow in the valleys and more in the high country, Dickerson said.

Every winter, Montana’s weather varies dramatically day-by-day and sometimes by the hour, as cold air masses from the north butt up against wet air from the west and a hot, dry ridge of air centered over Arizona.

“That’s the way the fall goes around here. Sometimes we go into a cold spell, sometimes into a warm spell. As we get further into November, the warm spells aren’t going to build nearly as strongly,” he said. “By Thanksgiving, I’d expect a little more active weather and snow in the forecast.”

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