The weather forecast was way off Tuesday, but no one was calling the National Weather Service's Missoula office to complain.

Missoula hit a record high temperature of 65 degrees in mid-afternoon, smashing the previous record of 58 degrees set back in 1917.

The predicted high for the day? Twenty degrees less.

So what happened?

Meteorologist Dan Zumpfe said the warm southerly winds flowing off the mountains and into valley bottoms combined with unexpectedly clear skies and a relatively "warm" overnight low to produce record-breaking heat throughout western Montana.

Kalispell tied its record high temperature Tuesday, at 59 degrees. The last time such warmth was felt in the Flathead Valley on Nov. 17 was in 1976.

But alas, it's not going to last. Zumpfe said a cold front was rolling into western Montana after nightfall Tuesday and would drop temperatures by 20 degrees. Wednesday's high marks, he said, will be in the mid-40s.

For real.