BILLINGS- It is another beautiful day in Billings- just look at that blue sky. In fact, we may have some of the best weather in the state this Tuesday afternoon.
It is already 43 degrees in Billings at 2 p.m. Tuesday with mostly sunny skies and a southwest wind at 18 mph.
It has been a breezy day on the eastern slopes the divide. Winds have been gusting anywhere from 48 to 51 mph from Livingston, all the way to Cut Bank.
The threat board is full in the western part of the state.
So we will start a little closer to home, where we have a High Wind Warning until 5 p.m. Thursday for the Beartooth foothills all the way up to Wheatland County.
There we could see winds gusting 60 to 75 mph. We also have a Winter Weather Advisory out West. Around the mountains, we could see snow anywhere from three to 12 inches.
Plus we have a Winter Storm Warning for the front range the Rockies up by Kalispell. Eight to 10 inches of snow are expected there.
We also have a Winter Storm Warning around Missoula in the Bitterroot Range. There we could see between seven and 13 inches of snow.
Plus we have a telephone outage: Ravalli County temporarily lost all its phone service Tuesday, both landline and cellular.
The telephone outage was a fiber optic problem, which has been resolved.
Now it’s time to get to the bad stuff: We have a blizzard warning also on the front range of the Rockies by Glacier National Park.
Plus a high wind warning for 65 to 80 mile-per-hour winds around that blizzard warning and a high wind watch that extends all the way into the north-central plains.
The Doppler radar shows the first few waves of moisture and snowfall starting to move into western Montana.
The computer model shows these waves will continue to push through Wednesday and into Thursday.
However, most of the snow will remain to the northwest or western mountains and fall apart as it makes its way into the Billings area.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Turning mostly cloudy and breezy with a 20 percent chance for snow showers overnight. West winds 15 to 25 mph. Low 30 degrees.
WEDNESDAY: Partly sunny and windy with a 20 percent chance for snow showers in the morning. West winds 15 to 30 mph with gusts to 50 mph. High 44 degrees.
THURSDAY: Mostly sunny, breezy and continued mild. Southwest winds 15 to 25 mph. High 43 degrees.
