Weather

Actions

Q2 Weather: Moisture for Billings’ snow came a long way

Posted at 3:14 PM, Oct 10, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-10 17:14:14-04

BILLINGS- What looked like light fog or haze over Billings this Wednesday afternoon was actually light snow.

The temperature in Billings at 2 p.m. was 36 degrees, a northeast breeze was at 13 mph and was blowing in a light snow shower.

This light snow shower was the far northern tip of a much bigger storm in Northern Colorado.

An upper-level, low-pressure cell was producing snow in Colorado and Wyoming, but some of this moisture made its way up into south central Montana.

This is what we saw in Billings on Wednesday afternoon.

The upper-level trough, which encompassed the entire Rocky Mountain chain earlier in the week, is now starting to shift eastward.

It is now producing rain over the Mississippi Valley, while the western edge of the trough is making snow in the central Rockies.

Our computer forecast model shows we can continue to see isolated snow showers across south central and southwestern Montana for the rest of the Wednesday afternoon.

A fresh batch of moisture will move into Yellowstone Park on Thursday morning.

This snow should track right along the state line with northern Wyoming and produce some light snow in the Pryor and Bighorn Mountains of south-central Montana.

By Friday, the whole storm slides out of the area and we can expect mostly sunny skies to return to southern Montana Friday morning.

BILLINGS FORECAST

TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance for snow showers. Northeast winds 5 to 15 mph. Low 26 degrees.

THURSDAY: Decreasing clouds with a 30 percent chance for morning snow showers. South winds 5 to 10 mph in the morning becoming northerly in the afternoon. High 42 degrees.

 FRIDAY: Mostly sunny, breezy and warmer. Southwest winds 15 to 25 mph. High 58 degrees.