According to the Missoula National Weather Service, some flash flooding may occur this weekend. Meteorologist Alex Lukinbeal explains.

“We have a big area of low pressure that is sitting off the Oregon Washington coast and that is going to funnel a warm and unstable moist airmass into the northern Rockies on Friday and Saturday,” Lukinbeal said. “As a result, we are going to see quite a significant increase in thunderstorm activity beginning Friday morning through the afternoon. These are going to be slow moving storms and they could produce significant precipitation. That has us concerned that we might see some potential flash flooding this weekend.”

Lukinbeal says there are some specific areas where flash flooding could take place and Missoula is one of them.

“The areas that we are concerned with the most right now are the urban areas and larger cities like Missoula, Kalispell and Butte,” Lukinbeal said. “We are also concerned about the recent wildfire burn scars. Those are the areas that we are going to watch the closest.”

Thunderstorms are expected throughout the weekend and high temperatures will likely be in the mid-70s. Partly cloudy skies should return early next week.