BILLINGS – It has turned out to be what looks like a typical summer day here in Billings: mostly sunny skies and temperatures climbing up through the 70s into the low 80s.
The Doppler radar and satellite tells the story today. the only place where we see any showers at all is in the southwest corner the state in Madison in Beaverhead counties.
Our thunderstorm outlook for Friday shows a marginal risk of severe storms around Missoula in west-central Montana.
Elsewhere we see only isolated showers in the western part of the state.
Everywhere else in Montana, we expect mostly sunny skies on Friday.
So the only issue we are dealing with today is flooding around much of south-central Montana.
The Yellowstone River in Billings is below flood stage but is forecast to possibly go above it this weekend.
The Shields River near Livingston is actually the process of going down, the Yellowstone River near Livingston will possibly go up little bit.
The Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone at Edgar is forecast to rise above flood stage by Monday and the Musselshell River at Shawmut and Lavina are in the process of going down.
Our forecast model shows mostly sunny skies across much of Montana for the rest of Friday but we could see some showers moving into the Billings area by 6 p.m. Saturday.
On Sunday into Monday, a bigger push of rain moves into the area, although not as big as previously forecast. Latest rainfall estimates have decreased by half an inch across the board.
BILLINGS FORECAST
Tonight: Partly cloudy and fairly warm. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph. Low 58 degrees.
Saturday: Mostly sunny with a 20 percent chance for isolated thunderstorms in the afternoon. Some storms may produce small hail and gusty winds. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph. High 85 degrees.
Sunday: Mostly cloudy with a 60 percent chance for numerous thunderstorms in the afternoon. Some thunderstorms may produce heavy rainfall in the afternoon. North winds 5 to 15 mph. High 73 degrees.
