BILLINGS- Round two of winter has come and gone and left Billings with another blanket of snow. Not only that, it’s also given us some pretty chilly temperatures early this morning.
The current temperature in Billings at 2 p.m. Thursday was 20 degrees with a southwest wind at 18 mph, giving us a wind chill factor that felt like only five above.
But that felt like a heat wave compared to the overnight low. Most of eastern Montana had reported overnight lows into the subzero range, and that included Billings, where we get to -4 degrees.
Elsewhere in eastern Montana, Jordan reported low of 21 below zero. It was -17 at Havre and -14 at Glasgow, while Glendive was at -10 degrees.
Current temperatures have warmed into the single digits to teens above zero in the east, and 20s and 30s have been reported out across central Montana and the West.
The Doppler radar shows one little batch of snow moving uphill into the Beartooth,s and it looks like this batch of snow will slide right around Billings.
Our high-resolution forecast model shows that snow shower in the Beartooths is right where should it be.
We might even see one little streak of snow pushing into Yellowstone County, about 6 p.m. Thursday. After that, most just slides East by Friday morning.
By Friday afternoon, we get another surge of snow moving into the region but it looks like it will jump over Billings and develop east of the city.
This is thanks to the downsloping winds off the Beartooth Mountains.
Snowfall amounts for Billings are expected to be light through the weekend but Livingston Bozeman could see maybe two to four inches of snow, and Miles City maybe one to two inches.
Temperatures will be rising, for a change, instead of falling. We get up to 22 degrees at 3 p.m. Thursday, and then slowly warm our way up to 32 degres by 2 p.m. Friday.
BILLINGS FORECAST
Tonight: Mostly cloudy and warmer with patchy blowing snow in the evening. West winds 15 to 25 mph. Low 23 degrees.
FRIDAY: Mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance for snow in the morning then a slight chance for snow in the afternoon. West winds 15 to 25 mph. High 36 degrees.
SATURDAY: Partly sunny, windy and warmer. West winds 15 to 25 mph. High 42 degrees.
