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Q2 Weather: Wednesday’s storm is tracking north of Billings

Posted at 3:20 PM, Mar 27, 2019
and last updated 2019-03-27 17:20:21-04

BILLINGS- So far it’s been a beautiful day in Billings. However, as you look north, we are starting to see a few cloudy skies roll in and it’s all part of the next system.

In the early afternoon, the temperatures were into the low to mid-50s. But it’s a little bit cooler out in the western part of the state. We’re seeing only 30s and 40s, and back east, it’s 40s and 50s.

On the threat board, we still have a lot of flooding issues to talk about, and now we have some winter weather to talk about as well.

A Winter Storm Watch goes into effect later Wednesday evening and lasts until Friday morning for 3 to 10 inches of snow.

A little farther west, in the Crazy and Beartooth Mountains, it’s a Winter Storm Warning for 12 to 24 inches of snow.

And farther west, still in southwest Montana, we have a Winter Weather Advisory for one to five inches of snow in the lower elevations and 5 to 14 inches of snow in the higher elevations.

That begins later Thursday night and lasts until noon Friday. It starts in Beaverhead County and goes all the way up to Fergus County.

The Doppler radar shows snow in western Montana and scattered rain showers just north of Billings.

The rain showers are north of Billings because the jet stream is tracking a little bit farther north Wednesday.

It’s taking most of the rain that would have moved into Billings and shifting it a little farther north toward Lewistown and Winnett.

The high-resolution computer model shows all that moisture continues to track to the north of Billings and stays that way for the rest of the day and even a good portion of Thursday.

Eventually, all that moisture drops a little bit farther south into south-central Montana by Friday morning, but Billings is not expected to get very much, that according to the latest GFS computer model.

Temperatures are expected to start rolling back down to the low 30s by 10 a.m. Wednesday.

BILLINGS FORECAST

TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy with a slight chance for evening rain showers, then a 70 percent chance of rain and snow overnight. Northeast winds 5 to 15 mph. Low 32 degrees.

THURSDAY: Mostly cloudy with an 80 percent chance for snow in the morning then rain and snow in the afternoon and colder. Accumulation of one inch is possible. Northeast winds 5 to 15 mph high 39 degrees.

FRIDAY: Mostly cloudy with a 60 percent chance for snow in the morning then a slight chance for rain and snow in the afternoon. North winds 5 to 15 mph. High 41 degrees.