According to the National Weather Service on Wednesday, south Lincoln County could see anywhere from four to eight inches of snowfall this coming weekend.

While there may be few or no prolonged episodes of truly heavy snow in the valleys during this period, the frequent light to moderate accumulations are expected to profoundly stamp winter’s signature on much of the Northern Rockies.

Friday afternoon, temperatures will remain quite cold in the valleys, and snowfall will accumulate in west-central Montana. Two to four inches of snowfall is expected in the afternoon. Friday’s temperatures will see highs in the upper teens and lows in the single digits.

On Saturday evening through Sunday, there’s expected to be more snow in northwest montana — around another two to four inches is expected. Lows in the teens and highs of mid 20s are expected for Saturday’s temperature. Sunday will be warming up, with lows in the 20s and warming to just above the 30s.

During mid- to late- next week, temperatures are expected to drop again from around 10 to 20 degrees cooler than on Sunday.

Some wind is expected, but not enough to cause concern for blowing snow. Banding again could be a concern from during the day Sunday. This will continue to erode the cold air stuck in the Montana valleys, and some of these will even move a little above freezing by Sunday afternoon.

Probable level of impact is moderate, but again could be high under any bands that might form across western Montana Sunday.

While many of the details with this pattern change are yet to be determined, it does look like a prolonged cold event. The National Weather Service expects some high level impacts with wind and snow as the cold air spreads into the area.

Bethany Rolfson is a reporter at The Western News and can be reached at 293-4124, or by email at [email protected]