BILLINGS- It is another beautiful, picturesque day in Billings. We have mostly sunny skies and 45° at 1:30 in the afternoon in Billings.
Elsewhere around Montana, most of the temperatures in the eastern part of the state are in the 40s. It’s a little cooler out in the west, where we have temps mostly in the 30s.
But it’s eastern Montana that has the Winter Storm Watch, which goes into effect Friday night through Sunday.
We could see periods of heavy snow possible in the region, which will impact travel throughout the entire weekend.
Thursday afternoon, the Doppler radar shows mostly dry conditions across the state. So where is this big storm we are talking about? It’s down off the coast of California.
I’m calling it the Big Kahuna, and we think it’ll make its way into the Great Basin area of Nevada by 6 p.m. Thursday.
By 6 p.m. Friday, the storm will be over the Texas and Oklahoma panhandle, where it can tap into the Gulf of Mexico moisture.
From there, the low will sling that moisture back up towards Nebraska and Wyoming, where it will mix with colder air.
That cold air will turn that moisture in the snow in Wyoming Friday night and then by Saturday that snow will move into Montana and spend most of the day Saturday and Sunday there.
The computer models have not pinned down the exact snow amount we can expect out of the storm, but let’s just say you’ll probably have to shovel this one.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Partly cloudy and cool. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph. Low 25 degrees.
FRIDAY: Increasing clouds with a 20 percent chance for rain and snow in the afternoon. West winds 5 to 10 mph. Look for accumulating snow to begin Friday night. High 38 degrees.
SATURDAY: Mostly cloudy with an 80 percent chance for accumulating snow possible. Northwest winds 5 to 15 mph. High 34 degrees.
