Rain And Lightning Roll Through Missoula Sunday

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - Sunday afternoon’s thunderstorm swept through the Missoula valley and brought with it some heavy rain, a few lightning strikes and even some small hail, at least to my Miller Creek home.

I spoke with National Weather Service Meteorologist Brian Conlin at about 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, and he provided overall details on the brief rain and thunderstorm.

Sunday's Thunderstorm Brought Some Brief Heavy Rain to the South Hills

“The big picture is, there's a deep low off the Pacific coast, and that's moving on shore,” began Conlin. “We've been under a ridge for the past few days, which has caused the smoke and the heat and all that. So that ridge has now pushed off to the east, and we've developed this southwesterly flow, which is bringing in a much wetter air mass with Pacific moisture, which is typical, because in September, we can start getting the Pacific moisture back in here.”

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The NWS said There were Some Lightning Strikes in the South Hills area

Conlin said the rain and lightning activity were localized near Lolo Peak.

“The stuff that hit the South Hills and you just experienced that just popped up basically in the vicinity of Lolo Peak,” he said. “This stuff was popping up fast, and it got right to work. So it's pretty unstable out there right now (Sunday afternoon).”

Conlin said There May be Unstable Weather in the Coming Week

Conlin said the weather for western Montana might become more unstable throughout the coming week and into the weekend and more rain might be in the forecast.

“In essence, if you're directly underneath a core today in north central Idaho, or through west central Montana, it's possible to get a 10th of an inch,” he said. “Once we get to Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, that low pressure system I was talking to you about, it will move through our area, and we're looking at the potential for it to close off, and at that point, I think we'll start to get some measurable moisture that'll be widespread.”

Conlin did reference at least two lightning strikes in the South Hills area.

Conlin said There may be some Rain for Saturday's Grizzly Football Game

“There were two positive strikes in the South Hills,” he said. “They both looked like they were just to the east of U.S. Highway 93 and so far, that's what we've measured. We got a report from one of our folks that works here that there was constant thunder, and that was likely cloud to cloud or flashing. But there were two positive strikes just to the east of us, on Highway 93.”

Conlin said there is a possibility of rain for this coming Saturday afternoon’s Grizzly football game with North Dakota.