March begins with blast of winter weather

Keep your snow shovel handy, another round of winter weather is poised to strike the region on Sunday night into Monday.

Moderate to heavy snow is predicted for Western Montana, the National Weather Service in Missoula reports. This comes on the tails of blizzard conditions Friday and Saturday morning.

Area mountains could see a foot or more of snow, with valleys seeing anywhere from 2 to 8 inches. Valleys such as the Missoula/Bitterroot and the Mission/Flathead valleys could see as much at 5 to 7 inches by Monday.

Temperatures in Whitefish will bottom out at minus 10 Saturday night and 5 on Sunday night.

By Tuesday, warmer air will usher in the threat of freezing rain in valley locations.

Highs could climb into the 40s by next Friday.

Avalanche danger in Northwest Montana remains considerable on wind-loaded terrain with natural avalanches possible and human-triggered slides likely.

Natural avalanche activity associated with deep persistent slabs has been reported throughout the region this past week.