BILLINGS – Wave after wave of rainfall continues to move into Montana today, and it’s coming down as snow in the mountains.
Up there, a Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect until midnight for 2 to 5 inches of new snow.
Here in the Billings area, the temperatures remain in the upper 50s with periods of rain off and on throughout the afternoon.
Since midnight, Billings has measured half an inch of rain. The same is true for Cody and Livingston.
Our thunderstorm outlook for today shows isolated showers across southern Montana, but we could see a marginal risk of severe storms in north-central Wyoming.
Because of the recent heavy rains, we still have a flood watch for much of Western Montana and around the mountains. There we have heavy rain causing small streams to go out of their banks.
The Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River at Edgar is forecast to go above flood stage on Tuesday to 9.2 feet. Flood stage is 8.5 feet.
The Doppler radar shows wave after wave of rainfall moving from Wyoming into Montana, all seeming to wrap around upper-level, low-pressure cells.
The high resolution forecast shows that low pressure cell over Eastern Idaho and all the moisture will rotate around it and be drawn into it.
So as the low moves, the stream of moisture will move and we think that stream might move a little bit to the east by 6 p.m. Monday.
The upper level low is expected to meander around northwestern Wyoming and return another flow of moisture into south-central Montana on Tuesday.
Our temperatures will continue to hover around the 50s and 60s for the next 24 hours.
BILLINGS FORECAST
Tonight: Mostly cloudy with an 80 percent chance for additional showers and thunderstorms. Locally heavy rainfall is possible. North winds 5 to 15 mph. Low 51 degrees.
Tuesday: Mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance for afternoon showers and thunderstorms. Northeast winds 5 to 15 mph. High 67 degrees.
Wednesday: Mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance for additional showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. North winds 5 to 10 mph. High 68 degrees.
