BILLINGS- Those cloudy, gloomy skies continue to move into the Billings area this afternoon. So far, they are bringing mostly light rain to downtown Billings, with a temperature of 39 degrees at 2 p.m.
Elsewhere around the state, temperatures are mostly in the 30s and 40s, although Kalispell is reporting 50 degrees early Thursday afternoon.
The Doppler radar and satellite imagery shows scattered snow showers starting just west of Yellowstone County and spreading all the way up to Great Falls and over to Missoula.
Meanwhile, Yellowstone County is seeing scattered light rain showers, but it’s too warm for snow.
We think as temps cool down later Thursday night, the rain showers here will switch over to snow.
The threat board has Winter Weather Advisories and Winter Storm Warnings covering the southwest quarter of the state.
Snowfall amounts range anywhere from three to six inches of snow, all the way up to 20 inches.
The high-resolution forecast model shows the snow will continue in southwest Montana and maybe start spreading into the Billings area about 9:30 p.m. Thursday evening.
After that, the snow continues off and on overnight and starts clearing out by noon Friday. From there, we will see mostly sunny skies in Billings, all the way into Saturday and Sunday.
Snowfall amounts for Billings are expected to be light. Most of ours will come down as rain, two to four inches of snow seems to be common around Bozeman, Livingston and Sheridan.
Temperatures are expected to remain in the 30s for the next 24 hours until 2 p.m. Friday, when we pop up to 40 degrees.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy with a 70 percent chance for rain and snow likely this evening, then more snow expected overnight. Snow accumulations around one inch possible. Northeast winds 5 to 15 mph. Low 30 degrees.
FRIDAY: Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance for morning snow showers. North winds 5 to 15 mph. High 43 degrees.
SATURDAY: Mostly sunny and warmer. West winds 5 to 10 mph. High 52 degrees.
