Very Mild Montana Now, Thanksgiving Forecast “Uncertain”

Skiers and snowmobilers are likely wondering what's up with the continued mild temperatures in Montana this past week, with many locations in the mid to upper 50s, and even some 60-degree readings this past weekend.

Last week's forecast was trending colder this week, but the National Weather Service says that didn't develop. And snow levels Monday were well above 7-thousand feet, although Missoula forecaster Alex Lukinbeal says they will gradually drop to pass level as the week progresses, starting with a system to the south.

"Snow levels are anywhere between 5 and 6000 feet. And then heading into next weekend, we do see snow levels kind of anywhere from 4 to 5000 feet as we track that potential for that next atmospheric river."- NWS Meteorologist Alex Lukinbeal

The real change isn't expected now until Thanksgiving week. And even though valley snow remains a question mark, forecasters say the pattern should favor more snow at higher elevations, warning to prepare for winter driving through the passes. Lukinbeal says a west-to-east pattern should bring better potential for moisture, at least for high-elevation snow.

Montana's wages higher than other states?

Recent reports are continuing to place Montana on the list of states that are in an actual recession, reflecting the high cost of living. Yet at the same time, the increase in AVERAGE wages continues to do better than many states, as Derek Wolfe explains.

According to ADP Pay Insights, wages in Montana are outpacing the national average by a significant margin. The data suggests that the average wage in Montana increased by almost 6% from last year, making it one of the biggest jumps in the country.

Cascade County starts over on alert system

Cascade County may have canceled the contract for its new emergency alert system. But Sheriff Jesse Slaughter says the county will look at a new vendor and will have a backup in place to use for emergencies in the meantime.

The county ran into problems last week as it tried to "pressure test" the new emergency alert system, saying users discovered the network was down, and that it wasn't until the next day that OnSolve told the county the system was offline.

Slaughter says that was unacceptable.

"This almost now week long outage has caused serious loss of confidence, and the company's product and reliability," Slaughter states. "This type of critical emergency notification system failing like this is completely unacceptable."

Friday, Slaughter and the county commissioners announced that they were canceling the CodeRED contract with OnSolve and also requesting that the company purge all Cascade County data from its servers.

He assures residents the county has a backup system in can be used while it shops for a new vendor.

Brawl of the Wild tix are worth big bucks.

Although tickets for the upcoming Brawl of the Wild have been sold out for months, there are tickets floating around on the reseller sites, although prices range from $200-to-$300 to well over $600, and there are reports that you could be paying well over $2000 for the best seats.

The success of the two teams is building anticipation and prices. The Griz remain undefeated, and although the 'Cats are 9-and-2, they're on a 9-game win streak going into Saturday's showdown.

READ MORE: A Decade of Cat-Griz Showdowns

GF looks at childcare changes

Great Falls is becoming the latest Montana city to try and get a better idea of the demand for childcare access, launching a new survey for parents in the Electric City and the surrounding towns.

The Great Falls Development Authority is doing a marketing assessment to get a better idea of the demand for a new childcare facility, focusing on unmet demand and better options for parents. The survey takes about 15 minutes and covers current childcare arrangements, basic household info, and future and preferred childcare needs.

This information is for market research only and updates the latest study in 2021. Take the survey here.