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Q2 Weather: Big changes come to Montana this weekend

Posted at 3:46 PM, Dec 28, 2018
and last updated 2018-12-28 17:46:32-05

BILLINGS- The cloudy skies in Billings, Friday morning acted like a blanket and kept temperatures warmer than they would have been otherwise.

And now it looks like some southwesterly winds are helping to warm things up even more. Those southwesterly winds are warming the temps up into the mid-20s in the early afternoon.

The winds will be quite the issue this weekend, especially on the Rocky Mountain front. We have a High Wind Warning, from 11 p.m. Friday until 8 a.m. Sunday for winds gusting to 95 mph.

Plus we have a High Wind Watch Saturday morning through Sunday morning for 60 mile-per-hour winds in north-central Montana.

A Winter Storm Watch starts in Canada, goes all the way down the Rocky Mountain chain into Idaho where we could see three to five inches of snow in the valleys and four to seven inches of snow in the mountains.

By Missoula, we are looking at four to six inches of snow and 35 mile-per-hour winds to help blow that snow around.

Plus we have a Wind Advisory on Interstate 90 in the Beartooth foothills for dangerous crosswinds of 55 to 75 mph. All this is happening this weekend.

Even though the storm is not showing up on the Doppler radar satellite now, it’s just starting to make its way on shore in Washington and Oregon.

The computer models show that the rest of Friday will be moisture free for eastern Montana. But by Saturday morning, the next storm starts moving into the west from Kalispell to Bozeman.

We think the storm will pass just south and west of Billings on Saturday, but then a new cold front drops down from Canada on Sunday and that storm could give us our precipitation.

Temperatures over the weekend will continue to stay fairly comfortable into the upper 30s but then drop down into the low teens for highs on New Year’s Eve and bounce back up to the 40s by the end of next week.

BILLINGS FORECAST

TONIGHT: Mostly clear and cold. Southwest winds 15 to 25 mph with wind chill readings as cold as 5 below zero. Low 15 degrees.

SATURDAY: Partly sunny windy and not as cold. Southwest winds 15 to 30 mph gusting to 40 mph in the afternoon. High 39 degrees.

SUNDAY: Mostly cloudy with a 60 percent chance for rain and snow in the morning, then snow likely in the afternoon with accumulations possible. West winds 10 to 20 mph. High 40 degrees early.