Chilly Weekend Storm Could Bring Inches of Snow to Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming Peaks

Ski season is still weeks or months away, but Mother Nature’s already provided some wintry teases. Another could be on the way for Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming this weekend.

Chase Thomason, a meteorologist with Salt Lake’s KUTV 2 News, recently shared a graphic on social media showing where the most snow could fall, with the concentration of the storm being positioned over western Montana. Lesser flurries could also appear across parts of central Idaho and northwest Wyoming, per Thomason’s post. He noted that freezing levels could fall to between 7,000 and 8,000 feet by Sunday.

Thomason’s not the only one keeping an eye on the snow.

Known for his ski season forecasts, meteorologist Chris Tomer broke down the potential snow totals in a video Wednesday morning, basing his predictions on weather models showing, in part, Montana’s Glacier National Park. He’s watching Saturday and Sunday.

“Six to 12 inches up there on a lot of the highest peaks in Glacier seems to be even more likely today,” Tomer said.

According to mountain-forecast.com, Glacier National Park’s Summit Mountain, which stands at nearly 9,000 feet, could see almost nine inches of snow during Saturday night and into Sunday morning.

Snow this time of year in Glacier National Park isn’t unheard of. The National Park Service advises visitors to pack extra layers regardless of the season and notes on its website that “snow may occur even at lower elevations as early as mid-September.”

The National Weather Service office in Great Falls, Montana, cautioned that the weekend could bring slippery trails and road conditions, and for those caught outside unprepared, the risk of hypothermia.

“If you will be in the back country, be prepared for cold, raw conditions by ensuring you have the appropriate gear and contingency plans,” the office wrote in a post on X.

The prospective snow follows a storm in late August that brought some flakes to Wyoming’s Beartooth Highway, a high-altitude stretch of road known for attracting wintry conditions well before the official arrival of winter.

The unsettled and sometimes snowy weather in recent days also brought chilly conditions to a few western ski resorts, including Banff Sunshine, Alberta, and Crystal Mountain, Washington, where modest accumulations were tallied. 

Could it all be a good omen for the coming ski season? We’d prefer not to jinx it, so we won’t say no or yes. Instead, it’s better to look at these flakes as a tease of what’s around the corner, hopefully. If the weather cooperates, we’ll all finally be clicking into our skis before too long.

Related: A Historic Ski Cabin Fell Into Disrepair. So They Picked It Up and Moved It.