It might be time to dust off those little-used snow shovels, with a winter storm watch for the Flathead and Mission valleys in effect through Thursday morning.

The large winter storm is predicted to hit most of Western Montana thanks to a mixture of cool air blowing down from Canada and moist air blowing in off the Pacific Ocean.

"It looks pretty snowy all the way through the weekend, with the chance of snow heaviest in that Wednesday and Thursday time frame," said Ray Nickless, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Missoula.

Kalispell's weather forecast predicts 2 to 4 inches of snow today and 1 to 2 inches tonight, with another 4 to 7 inches Wednesday and Wednesday night and 3 to 5 inches Thursday.

Add those up and it could mean a dump of 10 to 18 inches of snow in the Flathead Valley.

A mix of snow and freezing rain is possible on Thursday, with more snow then likely through Sunday.

The Kootenai and Cabinet region was predicted to receive 2 to 5 inches of snow by Monday night with another 10 to 16 inches through Thursday.

West Glacier was predicted to get a total of 18 to 30 inches through Thursday.

With the mountain snowpack at just 66 percent of normal in the Flathead River Basin, higher elevations could see "feet of new snow" this week, Nickless said.

"The snow in the mountains is a given. But with cooler temperatures, there's a good chance we'll get copious amounts in the valleys, too."

Mountain snow will be a big help to local ski areas that have had below-normal snowfall so far this season.

Whitefish Mountain Resort, which currently has 21 inches of snow at the village area and 53 inches at the summit, is due to receive 22 to 43 inches of new snow this week, according to the National Weather Service.

Blacktail Mountain Ski Area near Lakeside is expected to get as much as 26 inches of new snow this week. Blacktail currently has a settled base of 58 inches of snow.

As of mid-January, Kalispell is well below its normal snowfall totals, with just 10.5 inches recorded so far this winter.

The valley normally gets about 9 inches of snow in November, 16 inches in December and 13 inches in January, Nickless said.

"That puts us quite a bit below the average snowfall," he said.

"But there might be a few spots in the valley that get the whole amount for January just this week. That's just the way it works sometimes."

The National Weather Service's phones in Missoula have been ringing off the hook with snow-removal crews throughout Western Montana trying to figure out what they need to be preparing for, Nickless said.

"This will definitely be beneficial for getting us back closer to normal and we'll continue to be in an active wet pattern as we go into next week, too," Nickless said.

"Winter's finally here and that's a good thing. Maybe it will make our la Nina prediction look better."

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.