Just like Tuesday, the cloudy skies are starting roll into the Billings area Wednesday afternoon.
Even the temperatures are starting to warm up like they did on Tuesday, we are already up into the 70s and low 80s across eastern Montana.
Farther out West, it’s a little bit cooler with temperatures mostly into the 60s.
Also, like Tuesday, we see a batch of rain showers moving in from the southwest. Some of them do contain some small thunderstorms in what we call a “shortwave weather disturbance.”
But that shortwave disturbance is just the tip of the iceberg of a much larger storm that’s moving on shore right now in California.
The jet stream will usher the showers all the way up through the Great Basin Area and into Idaho, as well as Montana.
The storm will then continue to send wave after wave of moisture into Montana over the next several days.
In fact, the heaviest rain seems to be moving into the Billings area on Thursday afternoon.
By Friday, the heaviest rain will continue to move into Western Montana with some higher elevation snow expected.
Eventually, as temperatures cool down the threat of thunderstorms will decrease and we will be expecting rain showers off and on throughout much of the weekend.
Our temperatures will pop up into the 80s one more time Wednesday, then roll back down to the 50s in the morning and back to the 60s, about 2 p.m. Thursday afternoon.
After that we will see the temperatures roll into the 50s for afternoon highs, over the weekend and the beginning part of next week.
We are expecting copious amounts of rain over the weekend as much is 1 to 3 inches could fall in Billings.
BILLINGS FORECAST
TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy with a 40% chance for showers and thunderstorms this evening turning to rain overnight. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Low 54°.
THURSDAY: Increasing clouds with a 40% chance for showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Some storms may produce heavy rain. East winds 5 to 15 mph. High 75°.
FRIDAY: Mostly cloudy with a 60% chance for showers and thunderstorms. Northeast winds 10 to 20 mph. High 67°.
