000 FXUS65 KMSO 121029 AFDMSO WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT 330 AM MST TUE MAR 12 2002 .SHORT TERM...FRONTAL BOUNDARY MOVING THROUGH THE CWA ATTM WITH A GOOD STREAM OF MOISTURE MOVING IN. RADAR SHOWING MODERATE RAIN/SNOW BANDS ACROSS A GOOD PORTION OF CNTRL IDAHO AND WRN MT THIS MORNING WITH SNOW LEVELS AT OR ABOVE 6KFT. WILL ALLOW THE WSW FOR NW MONTANA TO EXPIRE AT 11Z AND WILL EXTEND THE WSW FOR IDZ005-006 AND MT006 TO CONTINUE. THIS WILL PROBABLY LAST ANOTHER 6 HOURS AS THE FRONT WILL HAVE PUSHED SOUTH OF THE CWA BETWEEN 15-18Z. GOOD LAPSE RATES... COLDER AIR BEHIND THE FRONT AND LEFTOVER MOISTURE WILL PRODUCE INSTABILITY SHOWERS THIS AFTERNOON...SO WILL WORD ZONES WITH CATEGORICAL POPS IN CNTRL/SOUTH THIS MORNING DECREASING TO SHOWERS THIS AFTERNOON. HIGH TEMPS FOR THE DAY WILL OCCUR THIS MORNING BEFORE THE FRONT MOVES THROUGH BY NOON. 531 THICKNESSES PUSH THROUGH WEST- CNTRL MT AND THE CLEARWATER MTNS BY 00Z. INSTABILITY IS EVIDENT BY LOOKING AT THE RADAR IMAGES AND EVEN A FEW LIGHTNING STRIKES OVER THE CLEARWATER MTNS IN IDAHO...AND FCST LAPSE RATES FOR THIS AFTN. WOULD NOT BE OUT OF THE QUESTION TO SEE 2-3 LIGHTNING STRIKES THIS AFTERNOON. RPN .EXTENDED...NEW MRF BACKED OFF JUST A TAD ON TIMING OF PRECIP FOR FRI AND SATURDAY. EXTENDED WAS TONED BACK A BIT FOR POPS IN THESE TWO DAYS. OTHERWISE NOR CHANGES. RPN .MSO...NONE. ...7-DAY SPOT TEMPS AND POPS... LIB EEE /040 024/035 020/032 4034443 CCEE 017/030 016/026 009/023 005/021 005/ 40345433333 FCA EEE /042 025/038 024/034 4034343 CCEE 017/029 016/028 009/022 004/020 004/ 40345433333 POL EEC /045 026/042 028/038 4034343 CCEE 018/031 018/029 011/024 007/022 007/ 40345433333 MSO WEE /043 026/039 024/036 4073333 ECJE 016/033 014/028 007/024 005/020 005/ 40334433333 HMM WEE /045 027/042 028/038 4073333 ECJE 018/034 015/029 010/025 006/021 006/ 40334433333 BTM WEC /044 016/035 013/035 4073332 EEJE 016/030 015/022 904/017 910/018 910/ 40334443333 ORO WEE /050 034/046 033/044 4073453 EOEE 030/042 029/041 025/035 020/035 020/ 40454443333 GRV WEE /045 032/043 031/042 4073453 EEJE 025/035 022/030 018/028 016/026 016/ 40454443333 SMN WEE /047 024/038 019/035 4073332 ECCE 017/034 015/026 901/019 905/018 905/ 40334453333